America's Data Centers Use Nearly Half a Billion Gallons of Water a Day

There are now over 5,000 data centers in the U.S. What is most alarming about this data is that these centers are using nearly half a billion gallons of water each day to power their systems while they also send dangerous pollutants into the air. Here is why environmentalists and other advocacy groups are so concerned.

AI Data Center Water Consumption

Artificial intelligence (AI) may not seem like a drain on energy resources on the surface; however, the data centers that house all of this information are going through water and electricity at an alarming rate. As the number of data centers in the U.S. continues to expand at a breakneck speed, environmentalists are raising concern about the sheer volume of resources needed to power these plants.

According to researchers at the University of California, Riverside, each 100-word AI prompt consumes about one 519-milliliter bottle of water. This tiny amount of water adds up as more and more people around the world are incorporating AI into their daily lives.

Let's take a look at the Equinix data center in Irving, Texas. This medium-sized 36,554-square-foot facility consumes approximately 110 million gallons of water annually to cool down its systems. To put this into context, this is about the amount of water used annually by 1,000 households.

Larger data centers use even more water. For instance, the 785,000-square-foot xAI plant near Memphis can go through up to 5 million gallons of water daily. This translates to about 1.8 billion gallons of water in one year, roughly the same amount used by a community of 10,000 people.

As a whole, the 5,000-plus data centers in the U.S. consume almost half a billion gallons of water every day. In addition to water consumption expected to increase as more data centers are built, the increased complexity of these systems will also necessitate greater water consumption.

The United Nations (UN) is now warning that the world has entered what it called a state of "global water bankruptcy." According to Director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health Kaveh Madani, “For much of the world, ‘normal’ is gone. This is not to kill hope but to encourage action and an honest admission of failure today to protect and enable tomorrow."

Dangers of Living Near a Data Facility

The water consumption is not the only troubling aspect of the increase of data centers. Residents living near the Memphis center have reported hearing the mobile gas turbines rumbling throughout the day. This center emitted between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) over the course of one year, making it the highest producer of the gas in Memphis.

The American Lung Association slapped the county where the plant is located with a grade of “F” for ozone pollution in 2025. In addition to nitrogen oxides, these types of gas turbines also release formaldehyde and fine particulate matter into the atmosphere.

The pollutants combine with nitrogen oxide to produce ozone at the surface of the ground. This ozone has been linked to worsening asthma and COPD. Meanwhile, formaldehyde has been shown to cause cancer, while particulate matter raises the risk of heart disease as the soot passes through the lungs.

Experts say that data centers can reduce some of these harmful impacts by recycling water and relying less on diesel generation for power.

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