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U.S. data centers directly consumed about 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023.

The Claim

In the United States, data centers used about 17 billion gallons of water annually for direct on-site cooling in 2023.

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The Short Version

The available evidence supports a national 2023 estimate of roughly 17.4 billion gallons of direct on-site water consumption by U.S. data centers, so “about 17 billion gallons” is a fair summary. The figure comes from a widely cited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report. The main caveat is that some descriptions include humidification alongside cooling.

Caveats

  • The 17 billion figure is an estimate from modeling, not a directly measured count of every U.S. data center.
  • Some source descriptions define the total as water for cooling and humidification, so “cooling” alone is a slight simplification.
  • The figure refers to direct on-site water consumption, not total water withdrawals or indirect water used to generate electricity.

The Receipts

  1. Data Center Water Use

    MOST Policy Initiative

  2. Data centers consume massive amounts of water

    The Invading Sea

  3. How Much Water Does a Data Center Use? | Data Center List

    Data Center List

  4. Data Centers and Water Fact Sheet

    Tulane Institute for Water Resources Law & Policy / Environmental Law Institute

  5. Nobody Is Getting the Data-Center Water Question Right

    The Atlantic

  6. America's data centers are thirsty. Rural towns are paying ...

    Fortune

  7. Data Center Energy and Water Use Trends Explained

    Circle of Blue

  8. Data center water consumption lacks transparency

    Finance & Commerce

  9. AI's Cooling Problem: How Data Centers Are Transforming Water Use

    Environmental Law Institute

  10. How Data Centers Use Water, and How We're Working to Use Water Responsibly

    Equinix

+ 16 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

United States

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