Tracker and explainer
Data center water and power use
Where the numbers come from: federal-lab estimates for the whole country, each company’s own latest report, and 24 figures for 21 tracked projects where a source names one. Everything else says “Not disclosed.”
Does AI use water?
Yes. AI runs in data centers, and data centers use water directly, when cooling systems evaporate it to carry heat away, and indirectly, through the power plants that supply their electricity. The best national estimate covers all U.S. data centers, not AI alone: 66 billion liters (17.4 billion gallons) used directly in 2023, and nearly 800 billion liters used indirectly through electricity. How much any one AI facility uses depends mostly on its cooling design and location, and most operators do not publish a figure for individual sites.
Why data centers use water
Nearly all the electricity a server draws ends up as heat, and the building has to move that heat outside. The way it does so decides how much water is used on site.
- Evaporative cooling. Cooling towers and evaporative air systems shed heat by evaporating water. That water leaves as vapor, so it counts as consumed. LBNL calls evaporative cooling indispensable for removing heat from IT equipment and a significant source of water consumption. LBNL, 2024
- Closed-loop and air-cooled designs. Dry coolers send heat into the outside air, and sealed liquid loops recirculate the same water. LBNL notes that dry coolers conserve water compared with evaporative cooling towers, although some add a water spray in hot, dry weather. LBNL, 2024
- Indirect water. Thermoelectric and hydroelectric power generation consumes water, so every kilowatt-hour a data center draws carries a share of it. LBNL puts the national average at 4.52 liters of indirect water per kWh of data center electricity in 2023, against 4.35 liters for U.S. electricity overall. LBNL, 2024
More on designs: How are data centers cooled? The water use tracker lists every cooling and water-source fact on the record.
National figures
These come from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy and published in December 2024. It is the most recent national study; its latest historical year is 2023, and its 2028 numbers are scenarios, not forecasts of any one outcome. Conversions to gallons are the Census’s own arithmetic.
| Measure | Figure | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. data center electricity use | 176 TWh | 2023 | LBNL report, Executive summary and Section 5Source wpExcerpt“U.S. data center energy use has continued to grow at an increasing rate, reaching 176 TWh by 2023, representing 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption.” |
| Share of total U.S. electricity | 4.4% | 2023 | LBNL report, Executive summarySource wpExcerpt“reaching 176 TWh by 2023, representing 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption.” |
| Projected U.S. data center electricity use | 325–580 TWh | 2028 (scenario range) | LBNL report, Executive summarySource wpExcerpt“with the low and high end of roughly 325 and 580 TWh in 2028” |
| Projected share of U.S. electricity | 6.7–12% | 2028 (scenario range) | LBNL report, Executive summarySource wpExcerpt“This annual energy use also represents 6.7% to 12.0% of total U.S. electricity consumption forecasted for 2028.” |
| Direct water consumption by U.S. data centers | 66 billion liters (17.4 billion gallons) | 2023 | LBNL report, Section 5, Water and Emission ImpactsSource wpExcerpt“By 2023, hyperscale and colocation account for 84% of the 66-billion-liter total, while internal data centers fell to just 12%” |
| Projected direct water use by hyperscale data centers | 60–124 billion liters (15.9–32.8 billion gallons) | 2028 (scenario range) | LBNL report, Section 5, Water and Emission ImpactsSource wpExcerpt“are expected to consume between 60 and 124 billion liters.” |
| Indirect water consumption through electricity | nearly 800 billion liters (about 211 billion gallons) | 2023 | LBNL report, Section 5, Indirect Water Consumption and Emissions from Electricity UseSource wpExcerpt“The total indirect water footprint of U.S. data centers is nearly 800 billion liters, attributed to water consumed indirectly through electricity use” |
| Water consumed per kWh of electricity, U.S. overall | 4.35 L/kWh | 2023 | LBNL report, Section 5Source wpExcerpt“the average water intensity factor for electricity use in the U.S. overall is 4.35 L/kWh” |
| Indirect water per kWh of data center electricity | 4.52 L/kWh | 2023 | LBNL report, Section 5Source wpExcerpt“In 2023, energy consumption by a data center translates to national average of 4.52 L/kWh of indirect water consumption” |
Full report: 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (LBNL-2001637) (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). The report says its indirect estimates do not account for power purchase agreements or on-site generation at individual facilities. Direct figures cover water consumed on site.
PUE and WUE, defined
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is the data center’s total electricity demand divided by the demand of its IT equipment. A PUE of 1.0 would mean every kilowatt-hour goes to computing; the extra is cooling, power conversion and lighting. LBNL, Section 4Source wpExcerpt
“Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is defined as the total electricity demand of the data center divided by the electricity demand of the IT equipment.”
Water usage effectiveness (WUE) is the data center’s water consumption divided by the electricity demand of its IT equipment, reported in liters per kilowatt-hour. LBNL separates “site” WUE, the water used on site for cooling, from “source” WUE, the water used to generate the electricity. LBNL, Section 4Source wpExcerpt
“Water Usage Effectiveness is similarly defined as the total water consumption of the data center divided by the electricity demand of the IT equipment.”
Companies define their own WUE. Amazon’s counts liters withdrawn per kWh of IT load, Microsoft’s is a global average for its owned datacenters over its fiscal year, and LBNL’s counts liters consumed. Compare each company with its own earlier years rather than with the others.
What the largest operators report
Each row is taken from the company’s own latest annual report. Reports differ in what they count (withdrawn or consumed water, calendar or fiscal year, all operations or data centers only), so the notes matter more than the ranking.
| Company | Measure | Figure | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water consumed, all operations Data centers 10,523 million gallons; offices and other facilities 346 million. | 10,869 million gallons | 2025 | Google 2026 Environmental Report, Global operational water use table | |
| Water consumed by data centers | 10,523 million gallons | 2025 | Google 2026 Environmental Report, Water use by data centers and offices table | |
| Water withdrawn, all operations | 14,689 million gallons | 2025 | Google 2026 Environmental Report, Global operational water use table | |
| Freshwater replenished 78% of 9,947 million gallons of freshwater consumption, per the report. | 7,717 million gallons | 2025 | Google 2026 Environmental Report, Freshwater replenishment table | |
| Amazon | Water withdrawn by data centers Withdrawal, not consumption; the report counts leased, owned and shared data centers worldwide. | 9.4 billion liters (2.5 billion gallons) | 2025 | 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, Water sectionSource wpExcerpt“In 2025, Amazon’s global leased, owned, and shared data centers withdrew 9.4 billion liters of water.” |
| Amazon | Water use effectiveness (WUE) Liters withdrawn per kWh of IT load, on average. | 0.12 L/kWh | 2025 | 2025 Amazon Sustainability Report, Water sectionSource wpExcerpt“enabling reduction of our global data center WUE to 0.12 liters per kWh, a 20% improvement from 2024” |
| Microsoft | Water usage effectiveness (WUE), owned datacenters Global average. Microsoft’s fiscal year ends June 30. | 0.27 L/kWh | FY2025 | 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report, Water sectionSource wpExcerpt“Based on our FY25 global average WUE of 0.27 L/kWh” |
| Microsoft | Water replenished | over 14.2 million cubic meters | FY2025 | 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report, Water sectionSource wpExcerpt“Replenished over 14.2 million cubic meters (m3) of water” |
Meta: Meta reports water in its annual sustainability report. This page has not yet verified a data-center total from the report itself, so none is shown. Report pages last checked: Google Oct 15, 2026; Amazon Oct 15, 2026; Microsoft Oct 15, 2026. Google’s consumption was 8,135 million gallons in 2024, so the 2025 total is 34% higher.
Facilities with a disclosed water figure
24 figures for 21 projects out of 170 tracked. The other 149 show “Not disclosed” on their pages: no source reviewed gives a number for them, and the Census does not estimate one. These are mostly projections, estimates and permit limits from local filings and reporting, not metered use. The “What it measures” column says which. Click a heading to sort; the per-day column converts yearly figures and skips one-time fills.
| Facility | Status | Water figure | What it measures | Planned capacity | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Jupiter Santa Teresa, Doña Ana County, NM |
Under construction | about 20,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Average domestic use for the office campus only |
2.46 GW | Oct 15, 2026 | Doña Ana County approves historic $165B bond for data centerSource wpExcerpt“For the office campus, developers projected domestic water use averaging 20,000 gallons daily.” |
| Project Cardinal Data Center Campus Yorkville, Kendall County, IL |
Approved | about 42,500 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Daily use after the air-cooled closed-loop redesign |
1.8 GW | Mar 12, 2026 | Yorkville data center approval comes after almost 6-hour contentious City Council meetingSource wpExcerpt“the data center will now utilize an air-cooled closed loop system, which dramatically reduces the amount of water used daily to around 42,500 gallons. Developers originally said it would use 350,000 gallons daily.” |
| Fort Meade Hyperscale Data Center Fort Meade, Polk County, FL |
Approved | about 50,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Potable water the project is expected to use; state officials question the estimate |
1.2 GW | Apr 22, 2026 | Lakeland Watching Fort Meade Data Center as Water Concerns GrowSource wpExcerpt“The project is expected to use about 50,000 gallons of potable water per day, though state officials question that estimate.” |
| Logan Prairie Data Center Latham, Logan County, IL |
Proposed | up to 9,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Company projection for domestic use only, not cooling |
500 MW | Oct 15, 2026 | Logan Prairie Data Center | Hut 8Source wpExcerpt“is projected to be comparable to that of a standard office building, or up to approximately 9,000 gallons per day” |
| CyrusOne CHI-11 Data Center Campus Yorkville, Kendall County, IL |
Under construction | up to 40,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Maximum after design modifications, with water-use limits imposed by the city |
480 MW | Jul 14, 2026 | 228-acre CyrusOne data center agrees to pay Yorkville $15 million up-front, city imposes water use limitsSource wpExcerpt“While the CyrusOne project was initially projected to consume 500,000 gallons of water per day, the modifications will now reduce it to a maximum of 40,000 gallons per day.” |
| CoreWeave Lancaster data center Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA |
Under construction | up to 20,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Limit per campus in the community benefits agreement |
300 MW | Oct 15, 2026 | Data Center Community Benefits AgreementSource wpExcerpt“Water use is capped at 20,000 gallons per day per campus, significantly less than the use for typical manufacturing” |
| Google Botetourt County Data Center Campus Botetourt County, VA |
Approved | up to 2,000,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Initial limit; Google may later ask for up to 8 million gallons a day |
300 MW | Jul 23, 2026 | Google to use air-cooling at future Botetourt County data centerSource wpExcerpt“Google is initially allowed to use no more than 2 million gallons of water per day, with the option to request up to 8 million gallons per day in the future” |
| QTS Fayetteville data center campus Fayetteville, Fayette County, GA |
about 2,000 gallons per day | Reported use Use at the operating campus as described by city officials |
250 MW | Oct 15, 2026 | Fayetteville Updates City's Future Land Use Map for QTS East CampusSource wpExcerpt“According to officials, QTS uses 2,000 gallons of water a day compared to a 'typical data center' using more than one million gallons per day.” | |
| Utah Data Center Bluffdale, Utah County, UT |
up to 1,700,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Maximum projected requirement reported in 2013 |
65 MW | Jul 12, 2013 | New Utah NSA center requires 1.7M gallons of water daily to operateSource wpExcerpt“The NSA data center in Bluffdale could require as many as 1.7 million gallons of water per day to operate and keep computers cool.” | |
| Utah Data Center Bluffdale, Utah County, UT |
about 1,200,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Planned figure later recorded in city council minutes, as reported in 2015 |
65 MW | Feb 2, 2015 | NSA Utah Data Center using more waterSource wpExcerpt“Bluffdale City Council minutes indicate that figure was later reduced to 1.2 million gallons a day.” | |
| Deep Green Lansing data center Lansing, Ingham County, MI |
Cancelled | less than 500,000 gallons per year | Projection or estimate Annual use as stated by the company CEO to the city council |
24 MW | Feb 23, 2026 | Demystifying Deep Green's proposed data center near downtown LansingSource wpExcerpt“CEO Mark Lee told the Lansing City Council at its Feb. 9 meeting that the facility would use less than 500,000 gallons of water annually” |
| Augusta Township Data Center (Thor Equities) Augusta Township, Washtenaw County, MI |
Denied | 1,000,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate A possible figure reported by the outlet (“may consume”) |
Not disclosed | Oct 14, 2025 | Tiny Michigan town hopes to stop data center with ballot initiativeSource wpExcerpt“The center may consume 1 million gallons of water daily” |
| AWS Wilmington data center Wilmington, Clinton County, OH |
Approved | about 6,000,000 gallons per year | Projection or estimate Estimated annual water use for the site |
Not disclosed | Mar 27, 2026 | Data Center FAQsSource wpExcerpt“The site will use an estimated 6 million gallons of water PER YEAR.” |
| Google Chesterfield County data center campuses Bermuda Hundred Road Chesterfield County, VA |
Under construction | up to 6,000,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Maximum allowed at this site |
Not disclosed | Oct 15, 2026 | Data CentersSource wpExcerpt“a maximum of 6 million gallons per day at that site” |
| Google Chesterfield County data center campuses Upper Magnolia Green Chesterfield County, VA |
Under construction | up to 1,755,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Maximum allowable use at this site |
Not disclosed | Oct 15, 2026 | Data CentersSource wpExcerpt“At Upper Magnolia Green, the maximum allowable use is 1.755 million gallons of water per day.” |
| Google Chesterfield County data center campuses Watkins Centre Chesterfield County, VA |
Under construction | up to 850,000 gallons per day | Permit, contract or approved limit Maximum allowable use at this site |
Not disclosed | Oct 15, 2026 | Data CentersSource wpExcerpt“At Watkins Centre, it's 850,000 gallons.” |
| Google Hermantown Data Center Hermantown, St. Louis County, MN |
Proposed | up to 50,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Campus use once fully built out, as stated on the city project page |
Not disclosed | Oct 15, 2026 | Project - City of HermantownSource wpExcerpt“the campus will use 50,000 gallons of water per day or less once it is fully built out.” |
| Google Palo data center campus Palo, Linn County, IA |
Proposed | about 12,000,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Figure a Google representative gave the county chair for the data center buildings |
Not disclosed | Mar 4, 2026 | Google eyes data center in Palo to bypass Linn County regulationsSource wpExcerpt“Running-Marquardt said when Google first approached the county about its plans for development in unincorporated Linn County, a representative told her that the data center buildings would use roughly 12 million gallons of water per day.” |
| Menomonie Data Center (Balloonist LLC) Menomonie, Dunn County, WI |
Paused | about 75,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate City estimate for the proposed data center |
Not disclosed | Sep 5, 2025 | $1.6B data center proposed in Menomonie draws strong response from concerned citizensSource wpExcerpt“The city estimates the data center would use around 75,000 gallons of water per day.” |
| Pennsylvania Digital 1 (PAX-1) Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, PA |
Approved | up to 400,000 gallons per day | Approved supply Capacity the developer says a municipal authority approved |
Not disclosed | Oct 15, 2026 | Pennsylvania Digital 1 (PAX-1) Data CenterSource wpExcerpt“up to 400,000 gallons per day” |
| Project Galaxy (AWS Sidney data center) Sidney, Shelby County, OH |
Approved | about 5,000,000 gallons per year | Projection or estimate Projected annual water use for the campus |
Not disclosed | Sep 10, 2026 | Proposed Data Center FAQSource wpExcerpt“Amazon projects approximately 5 million gallons of annual water use.” |
| Project Liberty Marion, Marion County, SC |
Cancelled | about 7,175 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Per building, an engineers’ estimate relayed by the county |
Not disclosed | Feb 4, 2026 | A Rural S.C. County Quietly Approved a $2B Data Center During the Winter StormSource wpExcerpt“Deputy County Administrator Kent Williams said engineers for Project Liberty estimated each building would use about 7,175 gallons of water a day” |
| Project Steel Data Center Campus Yorkville, Kendall County, IL |
Approved | 25,000–42,400 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Range stated by a city official for an air-cooled system |
Not disclosed | Mar 26, 2026 | 'Nobody wants to live in data center row' - Residents speak out after Yorkville approves 540-acre data centerSource wpExcerpt“Addressing residents concerns about water consumption, Olson said Project Steel is an air-cooled system that will only use about 25,000 – 42,400 gallons per day.” |
| QTS Augusta Data Center Campus Augusta, Augusta-Richmond County, GA |
Under construction | 18,000 gallons per day | Projection or estimate Expected use stated in the application |
Not disclosed | Dec 26, 2025 | Flying under radar, new data center will be twice as big as Augusta MallSource wpExcerpt“The application states the facility is expected to consume 18,000 gallons of water per day.” |
Sorting by the water column uses gallons per day (the top of a range). Capacity is the planned figure from each project record. Spot a figure that is missing or wrong? Send a correction.
Google’s reported water use by campus, 2025
Google is the one operator in this set that publishes water use for each data center location. These are reported figures for operating campuses, in million gallons, from Google 2026 Environmental Report (Detailed disclosures, Data: water tables (PDF pages 96–97)). Google reports water for each data center location. Consumption is withdrawal minus discharge. Figures are rounded as Google rounds them; campuses it marks as air-cooled show very small totals. None of these campuses is a tracked project in the Census yet; the table is shown so the reported numbers sit beside the projections above.
| Campus (as Google names it) | State | Withdrawn | Discharged | Consumed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council Bluffs | IA | 1,746.4 | 400.4 | 1,346 |
| Mayes County | OK | 1,396.7 | 315.3 | 1,081.4 |
| Berkeley County | SC | 988.5 | 86.8 | 901.7 |
| New Albany | OH | 1,008.1 | 172.4 | 835.7 |
| Papillion | NE | 677.8 | 129.6 | 548.2 |
| The Dalles | OR | 654.3 | 185.3 | 469 |
| Montgomery County | TN | 499.5 | 74.8 | 424.7 |
| Douglas County | GA | 440.6 | 73.5 | 367.1 |
| Lockbourne | OH | 460.8 | 101.3 | 359.5 |
| Lenoir | NC | 378.3 | 34 | 344.3 |
| Bristow | VA | 359.6 | 92 | 267.6 |
| Henderson | NV | 401.7 | 162.3 | 239.4 |
| Midlothian | TX | 263.6 | 43.4 | 220.2 |
| Sterling | VA | 258.4 | 58.6 | 199.8 |
| Leesburg | VA | 238.1 | 47.4 | 190.7 |
| Omaha | NE | 241.8 | 57.9 | 183.9 |
| Jackson County | AL | 191 | 17.4 | 173.6 |
| Lancaster | OH | 307.1 | 171.3 | 135.8 |
| Ashburn | VA | 76.5 | 23.3 | 53.2 |
| Red Oak | TX | 67 | 16.6 | 50.4 |
| New Haven | IN | 62.2 | 24.4 | 37.8 |
| Mesa | AZ | 19.4 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| Storey County (air-cooled) | NV | 66.7 | 60 | 6.7 |
| Wilmer (air-cooled) | TX | 2.6 | 2.3 | 0.3 |
| Pflugerville (air-cooled) | TX | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Phoenix (air-cooled) | AZ | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
The report also lists campuses outside the U.S. and an “other locations” row, which are left out here.
How to read these figures
- Consumed, withdrawn and discharged are different. Consumed water does not return to the source; withdrawn water includes water later discharged.
- A projection is not use. A developer’s estimate or a permit limit says what could be drawn, not what a building did draw. Several records show an estimate that later changed; the project page keeps both.
- Per-site numbers rarely include power. Water used to generate electricity is counted separately from on-site use, and it depends on the grid, not the building.
- No figure does not mean no water. “Not disclosed” means the Census found no source. It is not a claim that the facility uses little.
Water and power: common questions
Does AI use water?
Yes. AI runs in data centers, which use water directly when their cooling systems evaporate it and indirectly through the power plants that supply their electricity. The national estimate below covers all U.S. data centers, not AI alone: about 66 billion liters (17.4 billion gallons) of direct use in 2023, plus nearly 800 billion liters of indirect use.
How much water does a data center use?
It varies with the cooling design, the climate and the size. Of 170 tracked projects, 21 projects have a disclosed figure, and those figures are mostly projections or permit limits. They run from roughly 1,370 to 12,000,000 gallons a day, converting yearly figures to daily. Google reported that its data centers consumed 10,523 million gallons worldwide in 2025. Every other facility shows "Not disclosed" rather than an estimate.
How much power do data centers use?
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that U.S. data centers used 176 TWh of electricity in 2023, 4.4% of all U.S. electricity, and projected 325 to 580 TWh by 2028 under its scenarios.
What are PUE and WUE?
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a data center’s total electricity demand divided by the demand of its IT equipment alone. Water usage effectiveness (WUE) is its water use divided by the same IT electricity, usually in liters per kilowatt-hour. Lower is better for both, but companies count water differently, so WUE figures are not always comparable.
Why do data centers use water?
Servers turn the electricity they draw into heat, and cooling carries it away. Evaporative cooling does that by evaporating water, which is then consumed. Closed-loop and air-cooled designs reject heat without evaporating much water on site. Power plants also consume water to generate the electricity data centers use.
Cite this page
Last updated Oct 13, 2026. Figures may change as records are updated — include the date you retrieved them.
| APA | Data Center Census. (2026). Data center water and power use. Retrieved from https://datacentercensus.com/water-and-power |
|---|---|
| MLA | “Data center water and power use.” Data Center Census, Oct 13, 2026, https://datacentercensus.com/water-and-power. |
| Link | https://datacentercensus.com/water-and-power |
Republishing a figure or table? Attribute it to Data Center Census with a link to this page. The underlying data is downloadable as JSON and CSV; the press kit has standing figures and contact details.