What Little Water MetroVolt Still Uses

MetroVolt is water-light, not waterless: it uses ordinary facility water, occasional coolant makeup, and construction water, but no evaporative cooling.

The honest residual

Removing the steam cycle removes the dominant water draw, but a real facility still uses some water. Being precise about what remains is part of making the water story credible.

• Facility water: sanitary and domestic use for staff
• Coolant makeup: occasional top-up of sealed closed loops for leaks and maintenance
• Water treatment: one-time and periodic conditioning of closed-loop fluids
• Construction water: concrete and site work during build

What is absent

Absent are the large, continuous terms that define a thermal plant: evaporative cooling loss, cooling-tower makeup, blowdown, and bulk intake. These do not appear because there is no steam condenser and no evaporative cooling loop.

Why the distinction is the point

"Almost no water" is exactly the right phrasing. The remaining uses are the ordinary water any building needs, not the generation-scale evaporation that stresses basins. The claim is neither zero nor exaggerated; it is that the water that scales with power output is essentially removed.

Design-stage note

Exact residual volumes depend on final engineering, which is in simulation, with a test unit planned around 2032. The categories above, and the absence of evaporative terms, follow directly from the architecture and are robust regardless of detail.