still a proper closed loop cooling system isn’t exactly wasting water is it?

If you take good water from underground, it evaporates, and you’re in a drought-prone area, your area effectively just lost the water. Even if you’re not in a drought-prone area, you’re never going to have easy access to that clean, underground water again.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271

I found this, and it has a cool overview of water towers and such.