Data centre water use: AWS chief calls it low, other reports say it is high
Matt Garman, CEO of AWS, says a typical data centre uses on average about 170,000 gallons a day, which is little compared with other industries. Other articles say large facilities can use up to 5 million gallons a day, and the debate is about protecting local drinking water supplies.
Who is affected and how
- engineer
- The water demand of the cooling concept (evaporative, direct-to-chip, immersion) has become a permitting and local acceptance issue.
- energy specialist
- Choosing the cooling technology is a trade-off between water and power use, which must be weighed at site selection.
Sources
- AWS CEO Matt Garman says AI data centers ‘use very little water’ compared to ‘other industries’- Moneycontrol.commoneycontrol.com · Oct 5, 2026
- Why do AI data centers need so much water?britannica · Oct 9, 2026
- The truth about data center water usage | Latitude Medialatitudemedia.com · Oct 8, 2026
- Texas pauses new data center permits as state reviews water and power usageksat.com · Oct 10, 2026
- Why do AI data centers need so much water? | Evaporative Cooling, Google, ChatGPT, Direct-to-Chip Cooling, & Immersion Cooling | Britannicabritannica.com · Oct 9, 2026
- What are data centers, and why do they need so much power? An expert explainsnews.uchicago.edu · Oct 10, 2026
- The Hidden Water Footprint of Data Centerseponline.com · Oct 10, 2026
- The Dual-Geography of AI's Water Footprint — Data on Data Centersdataondatacenters.com · Oct 10, 2026
Machine-generated summary based on the titles and excerpts of the source articles. The facts come from the linked article.