The AI boom has sparked a race for chips, electricity and talent. Another potential constraint has appeared, as Robin Gaster writes for InsideSources: water.
In 2023, data centers directly used 66 billion liters of water to cool their facilities and indirectly used 12 times that amount — 800 billion liters — for electricity generation. While 800 billion liters is plenty to raise communities’ concerns, both together account for only a small share of U.S. water consumption.
This growing demand does not mean policymakers should panic and ban data centers or require they use no water. The U.S. economy runs on data centers, regardless of AI, and policymakers should not hold back AI adoption because of fears (reasonable or overblown) about water use. There are good solutions, if policymakers adopt them.
Read the full op-ed in InsideSources.
