07/29/2026
People survived for centuries without data centers. No civilization has ever survived without clean water.
Yet in communities around the world, enormous data centers are being built beside the same rivers, reservoirs and underground aquifers that supply water to homes and farms.
Behind every AI response, cloud service and online video is a warehouse filled with powerful computers. Those machines operate continuously and generate tremendous amounts of heat.
To prevent the servers from overheating, many data centers use ev***rative cooling systems. Water absorbs the heat and is then released into the air as v***r.
It does not simply return to the local reservoir after passing through the building.
It is consumed.
A single large data center can use hundreds of thousands or even millions of gallons of water on a hot day. Google previously reported that its average data center used approximately 450,000 gallons of water per day in 2021, although consumption varies widely depending on the facility, weather and cooling system. (
The water footprint does not end at the building.
Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, and many power plants also consume water while producing that electricity. This means a facility can have both a direct water footprint from cooling its servers and an indirect one from keeping them powered.
The greatest concern is not simply how much water the entire technology industry uses worldwide.
It is where that water is taken from.
A facility built in a water-rich region may create a manageable impact. The same facility placed in a drought-prone community can compete with residents, farmers and wildlife for a supply that is already shrinking.
In Newton County, Georgia, for example, a data center has been reported to use about 500,000 gallons per day roughly 10% of the county’s total water consumption. In parts of Virginia, falling groundwater levels have prompted warnings that new data centers relying on ev***rative cooling may not have a sustainable supply. (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy)
Heavy pumping can lower aquifer levels, reduce pressure in household wells and place additional stress on rivers and reservoirs. The effects can become most serious during summer, when data centers need more cooling at the same time that communities, farms and ecosystems also need more water.
Not every data center works this way.
Some companies are introducing closed-loop liquid systems, recycled wastewater and air-based cooling that can dramatically reduce freshwater consumption. Microsoft says its newer designs can operate without consuming water for cooling, although such systems may involve different energy and infrastructure trade-offs. (Microsoft)
The technology itself is not the only problem.
The problem is building water-hungry facilities in dry regions, approving them without transparent consumption data and promising companies enormous supplies before communities understand what may be taken from their future.
Data can be stored somewhere else.
A server can be moved.
A depleted aquifer, disappearing river or contaminated drinking-water source cannot be replaced so easily.
People may benefit from artificial intelligence.
But no technology should be allowed to grow as though clean water were unlimited.
