Data Centers, AI, and Water: Why Digital Infrastructure Now Has a Water Problem
AI and cloud growth are driving a dramatic increase in data center cooling demand—and with it, water use. As digital infrastructure expands globally, water is quietly becoming one of the biggest constraints on where and how these facilities can operate.
Understanding the scale of the problem, the additional pressures AI introduces, and the emerging technological and policy responses is critical to ensuring digital growth does not collide with water scarcity.
The Scale of the Problem
Data centers already use hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day for cooling in the United States alone, and that footprint includes both direct on-site water use as well as “hidden” water consumption tied to electricity generation.
Analysts describe this as a rapidly intensifying resource issue, not a distant concern. Looking forward, major climate and financial risk assessments project that as much as 45% of data centers globally could face high exposure to water stress by the 2050s, placing growth, reliability, and siting decisions under increasing environmental and regulatory scrutiny.
Why AI Makes It Worse
Artificial intelligence workloads significantly amplify these challenges because they demand far more compute power than conventional data processing. AI training and inference push facilities toward larger campuses, higher rack densities, and far more aggressive cooling requirements.
This combination accelerates both power consumption and water dependency. In some regions—particularly in the U.S. Southwest and parts of Asia—water scarcity is serious enough that local authorities have already begun to restrict or halt new data center developments due to water concerns. In other words, AI doesn’t just raise technological stakes—it raises environmental and geopolitical stakes as well.
Emerging Responses
The industry is not ignoring the problem. A growing number of operators are investing in closed-loop cooling and water-free or ultra-low-water systems that dramatically reduce reliance on freshwater withdrawals. Others are exploring heat reuse, redirecting waste heat into district energy networks or industrial processes to extract additional value while improving overall sustainability.
At the same time, investors, regulators, and the public are demanding better transparency, leading companies to publish clearer data on total water footprint, including direct, indirect, and embedded water use. These shifts represent meaningful progress but are unlikely to fully eliminate the challenge on their own.
Where Atmospheric Water Harvesting Fits
This is where next-generation atmospheric water technologies can play a strategic role. Supplemental on-site water generation gives data centers a way to reduce reliance on increasingly stressed municipal systems while building resilience for peak demand periods, droughts, or emergency conditions. When combined with conservation, improved cooling efficiency, heat reuse, and responsible siting strategies, atmospheric water harvesting can help create a more credible and practical pathway toward “water-positive” digital infrastructure—where technology growth is supported without deepening water scarcity risks for surrounding communities.