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Water consumption at dozens of facilities in Virginia’s “data center district” has increased by nearly two-thirds since 2019, as environmental activists warn that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will create “explosive” demand for computing infrastructure.
The US state of Virginia is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, including facilities used by major tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
The vast warehouse, filled with computer and networking equipment, used at least 1.85 billion US gallons (7 billion liters) of water in 2023, according to records obtained by the Financial Times through a freedom of information request.
That compares with the 1.13 billion gallons used in 2019, according to data provided by six agencies in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier counties in and around an area of Northern Virginia known as “Data Center Row.” There are other water utilities in the region that were not included in the data.
Virginia’s trends “raise the question of how sustainable this is” given the “explosive growth.” [in data centres] “We expect to see these changes over the next few years,” said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use for the Piedmont Environmental Council, a state-based nonprofit.
Big tech companies are investing tens of billions of dollars in data centers around the world in the race to develop the power- and compute-hungry AI that companies like Google and Microsoft hope will be a big revenue driver in the next generation of computing.
Research group Dgtl Infrastructure estimates that US data centers will collectively use more than 75 billion gallons of water in 2023, roughly equivalent to the amount used by the UK capital, London, in four months.
Data centers use water to cool computer equipment, and also for most of their fuel and electricity generation. Some of these vast computer facilities are located in areas and regions that suffer from water scarcity, such as drought-stricken parts of Virginia.
Loudoun County officials said the amount of land allocated for data centers in the county has more than doubled since 2019, with a significant amount more under construction.
Bank of America estimated in November that data centers are the 10th largest water consumers in the U.S. Large facilities can go through millions of gallons a month, but tech companies are working to reduce their usage, including through the use of reclaimed and recycled water.
Google’s water consumption grew 14% in 2023, but the company said in its latest environmental report that this was mostly due to “the water cooling needs of its data centers.”
The local utility, Prince William County Services, said in a disclosure to the Financial Times that the combined water consumption of the county’s 35 operating data centers will reach about 6% of the authority’s maximum daily demand in 2024. The number of facilities has grown by 59% since 2019.
Fairfax Water only releases data center usage information for two of its 100 largest customers, so the data doesn’t include all 11 facilities in the county. The county has 12 data center applications pending.
Earlier this year, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved the transfer of a permit from the old power plant to Amazon that will allow the tech company to pump up to 1.4 billion gallons of water per year from the Rappahannock River to cool its new data center campus on old industrial land.
Authorities set daily, monthly and yearly limits on how much water permit holders can use without harming the waters they take from, and actual usage is usually below these limits.
Environmental groups have noted that data centers may be located in water-scarce areas. Microsoft said 42% of the water it consumes globally in 2023 will come from “water-stressed regions.” Google said 15% of the freshwater it withdraws globally comes from “severely water-scarce” areas. Amazon has not reported comparable figures.
According to the U.S. National Integrated Drought Information System, Virginia has experienced several record-breaking droughts in recent years and is on track to experience a “major impact” drought in 2023. Most of the state, including the northern region where the four counties are located, is currently experiencing drought or abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Amazon said it is “striving to be a good water steward” and that its data center operations will be “water positive” by 2030, meaning the company will put more water back into the community than it uses in its direct operations. Microsoft and Google have made similar pledges. Microsoft has been working to reduce the amount of water it uses for cooling, saying starting in August that “new data centers we’re designing for Virginia will use cooling technology that doesn’t use any water.” Google declined to comment.
