Overview
- Amazon disclosed Thursday that its data centers use about 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour, a rate the company says is seven times better than a cited 0.84 L/kWh industry figure and that has been verified by outside auditors.
- AWS reported it used roughly 2.5 billion gallons of water last year and said it is about 75% toward its 2030 goal to be 'water positive' by returning more water to local communities than its facilities consume.
- The 'industry average' Amazon compares itself to is not a consolidated industry metric but is based on an academic study converted using a U.S. Energy Department methodology, which complicates direct cross-company comparisons.
- Operators balance cooling tradeoffs because fan-based 'free-air' cooling cuts water use while evaporative and some liquid systems increase water needs or save electricity, and firms say on very hot days water use can reduce stress on the power grid.
- Cities and residents are pushing back: Seattle’s city council approved a one-year moratorium on large new data centers and polls show roughly 70% of Americans oppose local builds, raising the risk that total infrastructure growth could outpace per-unit efficiency gains and amplify local water and land impacts.