With the reshaping of business operations in the United States by artificial intelligence (AI) and to meet its growing computing demands, the construction of data centers has seen a surge, sparking a construction boom in the country.
These new data centers require millions of gallons of water for cooling systems, a water demand that is growing in sync with the expansion of AI-supported facilities.
As many data centers are built in drought-prone cities with water scarcity, the massive water usage from the data center construction frenzy has raised concerns about water resource supply and underground water safety in these areas.
Chief Executive Officer Sergio Toro of Aterio, an international market intelligence group based in Vancouver, Canada, shared research findings with Epoch Times, indicating that there are currently 1,827 active data centers in the U.S., with 1,726 announced construction projects and 419 centers under construction.
Among these, hundreds of new data centers in planning or construction are located in water-scarce or long-term arid regions, raising concerns among advocates for sustainable urban development and environmental protection.
According to Toro’s research results, 1,082 data centers are planning or under construction within 10 states facing varying degrees of water resource stress.
States facing severe water resource stress include Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, California, and Colorado, with a total of 437 data centers in planning or under construction.
The water usage of data centers depends on the type of facility, typically categorized into two main types.
Hyperscale data centers are massive facilities used by cloud service providers and internet companies, requiring significant amounts of electricity and sometimes spanning over millions of square feet.
Non-hyperscale data centers, also known as co-location data centers, lease equipment, space, and bandwidth to wholesale or retail customers.
On average, non-hyperscale facilities consume around 6.57 million gallons of water annually. In comparison, hyperscale data centers (those supporting AI) are estimated to consume 200 million gallons of water annually.
However, concerns among stakeholders extend beyond the large water usage, with worries about contamination risks arising from the infiltration of additives from cooling systems into groundwater systems. President and Project Director Steve Rosas of Omega Environmental Services in California shared related information with Epoch Times.
“We have conducted remediation on sites where industrial cooling operations led to soil and groundwater pollution with biocides, corrosion inhibitors, and scale inhibitors (chemicals that persist in the environment long after the facility is closed),” he said.
Rosas emphasized that thorough environmental impact assessments must be conducted before the construction of data centers rather than resorting to “remediation post hoc.” He pointed out that post-remediation measures could cost millions of dollars and take decades to complete.
Rosas explained that he is most concerned about contamination from perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in data center expansions. These substances, known as “forever chemicals,” persist in the environment and pose challenges due to their bioaccumulative nature, disrupting the endocrine system even at low concentrations, making remediation costly and technically challenging.
Rosas highlighted that environmental compliance oversight for projects is often overlooked, with repercussions only becoming apparent when it’s too late.
Due to the non-flammable nature of PFAS and their versatility in use across a wide temperature range, these substances are added to certain types of cooling systems. According to Data Center Frontier, most of the two-phase cooling systems used by data centers contain PFAS.
Steffen Lehmann, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, shares concerns with Rosas about the growing number of data centers and their potential impact on local water sources.
“In areas with relatively inexpensive land like the outskirts of Las Vegas, several large data centers are in planning or construction stages,” Lehmann said.
“These facilities will require significant energy and water resources for cooling. The daily water usage of traditional large data centers can reach 5 million gallons, equivalent to the daily water usage of a town with 20,000 to 50,000 residents.”
Even relatively simple AI workloads require significant water resources for cooling. For example, a joint study by the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Texas, Arlington, found that the AI platform ChatGPT consumes water equivalent to a 500ml bottle for generating 10 to 50 medium-length replies.
According to data from Semrush, a leading global digital marketing platform, ChatGPT receives approximately 5.24 billion monthly visits.
In addition to direct water usage in cooling systems, data centers indirectly use water in the non-renewable electricity generation process, due to their high energy consumption.
A 2021 report on data center water usage highlighted that in certain cases, up to 57% of water used for cooling comes from drinking water sources rather than recycled or reused sources.
Accurately quantifying the number of data centers specifically built to meet the growing demands of AI remains challenging.
A 2024 analysis by McKinsey & Company, a large international consulting firm based in New York, forecasted a continued annual growth rate of 33% for the demand for data centers with AI capabilities by 2030.
This factor is a focal point for individuals like Lehmann, who closely monitors the expansion of a data center in a severely water-deficient region in southern Nevada. Despite being the driest state in the U.S., Nevada is experiencing significant growth in its data center establishments.
Toro’s research indicates that Nevada has 44 new data center projects announced or under construction.
“The rapid expansion of data centers creates competitive tensions between population growth, suburban development, and the construction of these high-energy-consuming, high-water-consuming facilities,” Lehmann stated.
He believes that developers constructing these facilities and companies owning them must maintain transparency, which is crucial in addressing the growing concerns of water resource usage.
Some tech industry professionals also expressed their concerns.
“One often-overlooked issue is that extensive water extraction can impact local infrastructure. Extracting large volumes of water can cause groundwater levels to drop, endanger local wildlife, and even compete with agricultural water use,” software engineer Arnold Pinkhasov of OSLabs, a tech accelerator, told Epoch Times.
Pinkhasov pointed out that the increased water usage of data centers may affect municipal water supply systems, which weren’t originally designed to handle such large-scale industrial water use.
“Another overlooked issue is thermal pollution, where the water used for cooling is discharged back into nature at higher temperatures, potentially impacting the ecological systems of rivers and lakes,” he said.
Many frontline workers involved in the expansion of data centers are striving to address the contradictions between facility growth and water usage before the problems become dire.
“Data centers need to prioritize water resource availability, humidity, climate, and other local factors in designing cooling systems and strategies to maximize efficiency and minimize water footprint,” Jon Hukill, Communication Director of the Data Center Coalition, a trade association for the data center industry, said in an interview with Epoch Times.
Hukill emphasized that overall, the data center industry is committed to responsibly using water resources. However, there are significant differences in water resource regulation requirements across legislative systems and states.
Virginia, the global leader in the data center market, currently lacks statewide regulations on data center water usage. In just Northern Virginia alone, the state houses over 150 data centers, highlighting the clash between regulatory needs and development drivers.
Local governments are currently deciding on whether regulations or inspections are necessary for data center water usage and how these need to be implemented.
Virginia House Bill 1601 once proposed conducting environmental impact assessments of ground and groundwater for proposed data center facilities, but the bill was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin in May.
Youngkin stated that the legislation would limit local autonomy and create “unnecessary bureaucracy” for new data center builds.
Furthermore, Hukill pointed out that data centers are actively investing and deploying technologies to reduce water usage in these facilities. Some innovative technologies include waterless cooling, closed-loop systems, and the use of recycled or reclaimed water.
“Many members of the Data Center Coalition are committing to making a positive impact on water resources through these significant investments,” Hukill said.
“Indeed, 83% of water use in Virginia’s data centers is equivalent to or less than the average water use of large office buildings,” he added.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) stated that the company is “doubling efforts to protect freshwater resources” while focusing on reducing water usage in data centers.
AWS is a leading enterprise in cloud computing with a vast global network of data centers. The retail and tech giant also owns numerous facilities dedicated to AI and machine learning workloads. The company aims to achieve a “water-positive” status for data centers by 2030, planning to replenish more water to communities relative to the amount used directly in operational activities.
“AWS is committed to using more sustainable water sources where feasible, such as water recycling or rainwater collection,” an AWS spokesperson told Epoch Times.
The AWS spokesperson also mentioned that the company has invested in building water recycling infrastructure in the Western U.S., including California, and is further expanding related water recycling projects.
“In the future, we will continue to explore new opportunities… to promote the use of recycled water in data centers where feasible.”
While the implementation of these methods depends on the availability of local infrastructure, regulatory standards, and water quality benchmarks, the AWS spokesperson stressed that their team conducts comprehensive evaluations at each location to determine sustainable water resource management strategies.
“These assessments consider various factors, such as water conditions, existing infrastructure capacities, and future community needs,” the spokesperson said.
Other major tech companies have also announced efforts to reduce water consumption in their extensive data center complexes. Google uses recycled or non-potable water in over 25% of its data centers. In August of last year, Microsoft introduced a new design that eliminates the need for water cooling in its facilities when managing AI-related workloads.
When asked about the progress in reaching the company’s 2030 “water-positive” goal, the AWS spokesperson noted that the data center’s water-positive ratio has increased to 53%, compared to 41% in 2023.
“In the Americas, our current data center cluster operates without water cooling for 90% of the year. Additionally, our water resource replenishment projects in the U.S. and globally are expected to replenish over 9 billion liters of water resources annually after each project completion,” the spokesperson stated.
In June of this year, AWS announced plans to prioritize water recycling at over 120 data center locations in the U.S.
Overall, the data center industry faces challenges in balancing rapid growth with responsible water resource management, as stakeholders focus on sustainability and mitigating environmental impacts in the face of evolving technologies like AI.