Ignore Data Center Water Consumption at Your Own Peril – Uptime Institute Blog

This Uptime Institute analysis details how traditional data center cooling towers consume roughly 6.75 million gallons of water per megawatt per year through evaporation, blow down, and drift. While newer chillerless and waterless alternatives can dramatically reduce consumption, the industry has been slow to adopt them due to higher costs, space requirements, and operational complexity. Notably, fewer than one-third of data center operators even track their water usage, revealing significant industry apathy toward water conservation — a critical data point for advocates pushing for transparency and sustainability requirements in water-stressed regions like California.