AI Boom Sends Data Center Water Usage Soaring to New Heights

The rapid growth of AI is causing data centers around the world to consume more water. Even though they use closed-loop systems, companies like Microsoft and Google are having trouble controlling water use in areas that already have a lot of it.

The rise of AI is increasing the need for data centers, which in turn increases the amount of water used. Data centres use water to cool down their computers.

In Virginia, which has the most data centres in the world, water use rose from 1.13 billion gallons in 2019 to 1.85 billion gallons in 2023, a nearly two-thirds increase.

Many people say the trend, which is happening all over the world, can’t last. Microsoft, a big data center company, says that 42% of the water it used in 2023 came from “areas with water stress.” Google has one of the biggest data centre footprints.

This year, the company said that 15% of the freshwater it uses comes from places with “high water scarcity.”

That being said, why can’t data centres use a closed-loop system to recycle water? Many data centers utilize closed-loop systems to recycle water, yet they reserve a significant portion of their food to regulate humidity, leading to its evaporation.

If you don’t add moisture to the air, it can become a beneficial conductor of static electricity, which is usually hazardous for computers.