AI’s thirsty secret
Data center expansion is putting freshwater sources under immense strain, with operators facing an environmental and PR reckoning


When people talk about the environmental impacts of data centers, normally the discussion focuses on energy usage. It’s something we’ve talked about at several points this year already, with reference to growing efforts to house AI workloads in green data centers that run on renewable energy to reduce their carbon impact.
But while we can generate nearly limitless amounts of green energy, there is a decidedly finite amount of water in the world – and unfortunately, most data centers need vast amounts of fresh water to cool hardware.
Without care, big tech could push already drought-stricken communities to breaking point.
In this episode, Jane and Rory unpack the growing problem of data center water use, how operators can tackle this, and how it will exacerbate environmental tensions in the near future.
Highlights
“Water resource management is complicated enough with things like industrial runoff, farming runoff, and all of these kinds of issues without then placing data centers into the mix as well. And this is an area that is going to become an increasing problem as AI use and generative AI use grows”
“Water anywhere is not the same as potable, drinkable water that comes from, say, a reservoir or from an aquifer. And as we said in the introduction, these are finite sources. So while 71% of Earth is water-covered, only about 1% of all water is actually drinkable. The majority of freshwater is actually just frozen in the ice caps. So we are looking at a very valuable resource.”
“I know that the OECD AI Policy Observatory has said that in 2027 global ai demand could drive as much as 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water withdrawal. Just to put that in context, that is half of the UK's annual water withdrawal. So that's just an incredible amount of water just for global ai demand.”
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Footnotes
- Data center water consumption is spiraling out of control
- Google data centre soaks up a third of Oregon city's water supply
- What is a green data center and why are they attracting big investment?
- Data center waste energy to heat homes in 'UK-first' scheme
- OVHcloud just open sourced its data center liquid cooling system — here’s why
- AWS plans to be 'water positive' by 2030
- Microsoft lays out water-positive plans for next decade
Subscribe
- Subscribe to The IT Pro Podcast on Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe to The IT Pro Podcast on Spotify
- Subscribe to the IT Pro newsletter
- Join us on LinkedIn
Rory Bathgate is Features and Multimedia Editor at ITPro, overseeing all in-depth content and case studies. He can also be found co-hosting the ITPro Podcast with Jane McCallion, swapping a keyboard for a microphone to discuss the latest learnings with thought leaders from across the tech sector.
In his free time, Rory enjoys photography, video editing, and good science fiction. After graduating from the University of Kent with a BA in English and American Literature, Rory undertook an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies at King’s College London. He joined ITPro in 2022 as a graduate, following four years in student journalism. You can contact Rory at rory.bathgate@futurenet.com or on LinkedIn.
-
Security experts issue warning over the rise of 'gray bot' AI web scrapers
News While not malicious, the bots can overwhelm web applications in a way similar to bad actors
By Jane McCallion Published
-
Does speech recognition have a future in business tech?
Once a simple tool for dictation, speech recognition is being revolutionized by AI to improve customer experiences and drive inclusivity in the workforce
By Jonathan Weinberg Published
-
Can better connectivity boost rural business?
Podcast Rural businesses are still offered speeds far below the UK government’s gigabit target
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
The dark side of Irish data centers
ITPro Podcast As Ireland grapples with data center energy demands, we ask if software developers can really benefit from virtual reality
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
HPE Discover Barcelona: What’s the business benefit of supercomputers?
ITPro Podcast With potential in fields such as AI to scientific modelling, global interest in supercomputers continues to rise
By Jane McCallion Published
-
Hyperscalers go nuclear
ITPro Podcast As energy costs for data centers become a challenge for cloud providers and AI developers alike, plentiful clean power is a key focus
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
The state of enterprise connectivity
ITPro Podcast Network technology is continuing to evolve as IT teams work to enable edge computing, expanding IoT, and AI needs
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
What is HPC really for?
ITPro Podcast High-performance computing HPC is often touted as an area of major tech breakthroughs – but what are these and who is leading the charge?
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
Can green tech meet surging energy demands?
ITPro Podcast Tech firms are pinning hopes on the rapid adoption of renewables and more efficient data centers to tackle energy-intensive AI workloads and ballooning data generation
By Rory Bathgate Published
-
What’s the future of data storage?
ITPro Podcast As the amount of data we use and create grows, firms need to shore up their storage strategies or risk of far more expensive migrations – or even data loss – down the line
By Rory Bathgate Published