They all belong in industrial parks like any factory, but that costs a lot and they are skirting zoning laws and putting many in rural farm areas. That needs to end.
Amazon claims its data centers withdrew “about 2.5 billion gallons” globally in 2025.
Amazon doesn't even own any massive AI data centers. It's primarily made up using about nine hundred tiny cloud networks.
That number sounds incredibly large at first glance, but it looks downright puny compared to the 117 trillion gallons of water withdrawn in the US alone in 2015.
If you're wondering why it is comparing to a study in 2015. It's because 2015 had a massive drought. Something like 95% loss of normal snowfall and -66% of total normal precipitation. It cost billions in economic disaster and water issues. Everyone used more water that year than any year since.
from the 3.3 trillion gallons used annually on US lawns and landscaping
Their citation is an EPA link that claims 1/3 of all water used by American households is dumped outside, and half of that is purely for watering lawns. And the solution to this obvious lie is to buy their officially licensed WaterSense®™ products.
531 billion gallons a year used just for US golf courses.
Golf courses use unclean water, it is untreated and unsafe to drink. Essentially, they suck up water from a nearby ditch (itself filled with the water the ground had previously absorbed).
AI centers use clean water to avoid damaging their systems. Directly drawing off the drinkable water supply.
Google data centers withdrew about more than 6.1 billion gallons of water in 2024, on top of about 2.75 billion gallons from Microsoft and about 1.4 billion gallons from Meta in the same year. All told, a 2021 Nature study estimates that all US data centers combined consumed about 163 billion gallons of water that year.
The AI bubble started in 2022, so let's use individual numbers from 2024, and a total from 2021...
Three quarters of the way into the article and dozens of reassurances later we finally get to this.
That number has doubtlessly increased in the AI-driven years since that study was published—one analysis estimates that Texas data centers alone used 25 to 49 billion gallons in 2024, and could grow to withdraw 399 billion gallons in 2030. But even annual data center water usage measured in the trillions would represent a figurative (and kind of literal) drop in the bucket compared to national and worldwide water usage statistics.
One data center used up to 49,000,000,000 gallons of water in 2024. It is expected to grow to 399,000,000,000 gallons within four more years.
There are currently 335 data centers with 200 more in various stages of being built or planned.
A single Meta data center in Newton County, Georgia, for instance, now uses about 10 percent of the entire county’s water supply, according to a New York Times report from last year.
And this one center in Georgia consumes one tenth of the entire industry, commercial, and residential water usage of a county with over 127,000 people.
a 2025 Business Insider report found that 40 percent of planned and existing data centers in the US are in areas with “high” or “extremely high” water scarcity, as measured by the World Resources Institute.
But why? Just why...
Then it returns to claiming Google plans to help water production. Like this isn't crazy, it's fine. Trust your AI overlords that are smart enough to build massive drinkable water sinks in the middle of deserts, they know what is best. 😕
They all belong in industrial parks like any factory, but that costs a lot and they are skirting zoning laws and putting many in rural farm areas. That needs to end.
I asked Grok where all the water these places us and it said 20% is lost but 80% is free in the atmosphere.
Anybody wonder what the humidity does to our weather or if water is the only thing released?
Prolonged amounts of Humidity can overtime with other factors lead to the eventual formation of rain and storms. And affect air pressure.
But you’d need massive quantities. To cause any significant change.
What’s the average acreage? Not sure why they can’t put this stuff in abandoned Chicago/ NY, SF or LA buildings?
Boy this article tries hard doesn't it?
Because that is an unbiased source.
Amazon doesn't even own any massive AI data centers. It's primarily made up using about nine hundred tiny cloud networks.
If you're wondering why it is comparing to a study in 2015. It's because 2015 had a massive drought. Something like 95% loss of normal snowfall and -66% of total normal precipitation. It cost billions in economic disaster and water issues. Everyone used more water that year than any year since.
Their citation is an EPA link that claims 1/3 of all water used by American households is dumped outside, and half of that is purely for watering lawns. And the solution to this obvious lie is to buy their officially licensed WaterSense®™ products.
Golf courses use unclean water, it is untreated and unsafe to drink. Essentially, they suck up water from a nearby ditch (itself filled with the water the ground had previously absorbed).
AI centers use clean water to avoid damaging their systems. Directly drawing off the drinkable water supply.
The AI bubble started in 2022, so let's use individual numbers from 2024, and a total from 2021...
Three quarters of the way into the article and dozens of reassurances later we finally get to this.
One data center used up to 49,000,000,000 gallons of water in 2024. It is expected to grow to 399,000,000,000 gallons within four more years.
There are currently 335 data centers with 200 more in various stages of being built or planned.
And this one center in Georgia consumes one tenth of the entire industry, commercial, and residential water usage of a county with over 127,000 people.
But why? Just why...
Then it returns to claiming Google plans to help water production. Like this isn't crazy, it's fine. Trust your AI overlords that are smart enough to build massive drinkable water sinks in the middle of deserts, they know what is best. 😕