Voters passed 40 of 41 proposed ballot measures this week aimed at placing restrictions on data centers planned for communities across the nation, according to CNBC. The measures reflect growing public concern regarding the impact of artificial intelligence facilities on local water and power resources. While more than 2,000 new facilities are planned, calculating the specific impact of individual sites remains difficult because operators typically report usage figures companywide rather than on a site-by-site basis.
Modern AI data centers utilize high-power graphics processing units (GPUs) that generate extreme heat. Shaolei Ren, a data center researcher and professor at the University of California, Riverside, stated that 1-gigawatt AI data centers from companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon, and SpaceX can consume up to 10 million gallons of water per day. While many facilities use closed-loop liquid cooling systems to manage internal temperatures, total water consumption depends heavily on how heat is rejected from those loops into the ambient environment.
Christopher Wellise, the head of sustainability at Equinix, noted that liquid cooling is significantly more efficient than air cooling for high-wattage GPUs. "GPUs run at such a high wattage, a high temperature, you would need nearly hurricane-force winds to actually cool them down if you were just using air," Wellise told CNBC.
External cooling methods generally fall into two categories: dry cooling and evaporative cooling. Dry cooling consumes less water but requires more power, particularly in hot climates. Conversely, evaporative cooling uses more water to manage heat. This trade-off means there is no single solution for managing the environmental footprint of these facilities.
Meta is currently constructing a 1GW data center in Lebanon, Indiana, using a closed-loop system that the company says will use zero water for most of the year. However, the company's law firm stated that water allocation for the site could reach 8 million gallons per day by 2031. Meta told CNBC that this figure represents peak usage on the hottest days and anticipates rarely reaching that maximum level.
Other companies are investing in water infrastructure to mitigate local impacts. Meta spent $100 million on a water and wastewater system near its Kuna, Idaho, facility. Outside Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk pledged $80 million for a water recycling plant intended to convert treated municipal wastewater into cooling water for SpaceX's Colossus data centers. While the first Colossus facility came online in 2024, construction on the associated water treatment plant was paused in April.
