Water Consumption Crisis

Data centers require massive amounts of water primarily for cooling systems. A single large data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of potable water daily, comparable to daily use of a 50,000-person town, with millions of gallons consumed annually for cooling operations that strain local resources and infrastructure. A 100 MW facility uses 100 million gallons/year; a 1 GW facility can use 1 billion gallons/year. Water consumption is approximately 34% higher for AI vs traditional data centers. AI-specialized facilities increasingly use direct liquid cooling vs traditional air cooling. University of Michigan research identifies a critical resource efficiency trade-off: while advanced cooling methods like liquid immersion and direct-to-chip cooling offer energy efficiency improvements, current technologies force a trade-off between energy and water efficiency, limiting sustainable solutions.