Data Center Water Use Sparks Public Opposition
Water scarcity is becoming a major obstacle for data center development, with a Gallup poll showing 70% of Americans oppose new projects due to water concerns. SpaceX amended its IPO to cite water conditions as a constraint. Data centers use evaporative cooling, consuming vast amounts of water—Google's Iowa facility used over 1 billion gallons in 2024. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory predicts hyperscale centers could use 33 billion gallons by 2030. While less than agriculture or oil and gas, the local impact is severe, especially in summer. UC Riverside professor Shaolei Ren emphasizes water as a highly local, limited resource requiring careful management.
Key facts
- SpaceX amended its IPO to cite water scarcity as a constraint on data center development.
- A Gallup poll found 70% of Americans oppose data center development due to water concerns.
- Data centers primarily use evaporative cooling, which consumes fresh water.
- Google's Council Bluffs, Iowa facility used over 1 billion gallons of water in 2024.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory predicts hyperscale data centers could use 33 billion gallons by 2030.
- A single fracked well can use 1.5 to 16 million gallons of water.
- Water risk is acute in summer when cooling needs and municipal use peak.
- Shaolei Ren of UC Riverside calls water a highly local, limited resource.
Entities
Institutions
- SpaceX
- Gallup
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- University of California, Riverside
- Microsoft
- OpenAI
- Oracle
- UC Riverside
- The New York Times
Locations
- Council Bluffs
- Iowa
- United States
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Texas
- Santiago, Chile
- Oregon
- European Union