From Michigan to Mumbai, communities are asking: How much water do data centres use?

Amazon disclosed its data centers consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, excluding water used for electricity generation.

The International Energy Agency estimates about two-thirds of data center water use is linked to electricity generation and one-fourth to on-site cooling.

AI companies use evaporative cooling towers (direct water loss) or closed-loop cooling (higher energy demand, shifting water use to power plants).

Researchers say lack of transparency prevents accurate measurement of data center water consumption globally.

Sam Altman called community concerns about AI data center water use 'insane'.