Data centers are the tech industry’s secret water hogs — and they’ll soon face greater scrutiny . The western United States is dry, and it’s getting worse by the day. Lake Mead — the largest reservoir in the U.S. — is on the verge of becoming a stagnant pool, meaning it may no longer flow downwards because of low water levels. The entire Four Corners plus California are in severe drought. During this severe drought, hundreds of data centers are using huge amounts of water to stay afloat. Dozens of data centers surround major metropolitan centers, including those that have imposed mandatory or voluntary water restrictions to reduce water use for residents and agriculture.
Since many companies simply don’t track, let alone report, exact water usage is an open question. While their energy consumption and resulting emissions grab a lot of headlines, data center water usage is coming under increasing scrutiny. As climate change makes water more scarce, hyperscale data centers may come under greater pressure to disclose how they use water, and how scarce it is in terms of where and how they operate. Data centers consume water both directly (for liquid cooling) and indirectly (for non-renewable power generation). A 2021 analysis published in Environmental Research Letters shows that roughly one in five data centers in the U.S. draws water directly from moderately to highly stressed watersheds.
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