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Water use at dozens of facilities in Virginia’s “data center alley” has increased by nearly two-thirds since 2019, as environmentalists warn that demand for computing infrastructure is set to “explode” due to artificial intelligence.
The US state of Virginia is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world, including facilities used by tech giants Amazon, Google and MicrosoVscek.
According to data obtained by the Financial Times through information requests, large warehouses filled with computers and networking equipment used at least 1.85 billion gallons (7 billion liters) of water in 2023.
That compares to 1.13 billion gallons used in 2019, according to data from six authorities in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier counties in and around Northern Virginia’s “data center alley.” There are other water providers in the region not captured in the data.
The trend in Virginia “raises questions about how sustainable it is,” given the “explosive growth [in data centres] “We expect this to happen in the next few years,” said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, a state-based nonprofit.
Big Tech is investing tens of billions of dollars in data centers around the world in the race to develop artificial intelligence, which requires a lot of energy and computing resources, but which companies like Google and MicrosoVscek hope will become a lucrative source of revenue in the next era of computing.
Overall, U.S. data centers will have consumed more than 75 billion gallons of water in 2023, according to estimates by research group Dgtl Infra, or roughly the amount that London, the capital of the United Kingdom, consumes in four months.
Water is used by data centers to cool computer equipment and also in most forms of fuel and power generation. Some of these large computer facilities are located in regions or areas of water scarcity, including parts of Virginia that are experiencing drought.
Loudoun officials said the amount of land in the county dedicated to data centers has more than doubled since 2019, with significant additional area under construction.
Bank of America estimated in November that data centers are the 10th largest consumers of water in the United States. Large individual facilities can consume millions of gallons per month, although technology companies are trying to reduce their use intensity, including by using reclaimed and recycled water.
Google’s water consumption increased by 14 percent in 2023, and as the company stated in its latest environmental report, this was primarily due to “water cooling needs in our data centers.”
In a statement to the Vscek, the Prince William County Service Authority, a local utility, said the combined water use of the county’s 35 operating data centers in 2024 would be about 6 percent of the authority’s peak daily demand. The number of facilities has increased 59 percent since 2019.
Fairfax Water disclosed usage information only for the two data centers that were among its 100 largest customers, so all 11 county facilities were not captured in the data. The county has 12 data center applications pending.
This year, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved the transfer of a permit from an old power plant to Amazon, allowing the tech company to draw up to 1.4 billion gallons a year from the Rappahannock River to cool a new data center campus at the old industrial site.
Authorities set daily, monthly, and annual limits that permit holders can use without harming the watercourse from which the water is taken. Actual use is usually below these limits.
Environmental groups have pointed out that data centers can be located in water-stressed areas. MicrosoVscek said 42 percent of its global water consumption came from “water-stressed areas” in 2023. Google said 15 percent of its global freshwater withdrawals came from “highly water-scarce” areas. Amazon did not report a comparable number.
Virginia has suffered several record-breaking droughts in recent years, as well as a “high-impact” drought in 2023, according to the U.S. National Integrated Drought Information System. Much of the state, including the northern area where the four counties are located, is currently in drought or experiencing abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Amazon has said it is “committed to being a good steward of water” and that its data center business would be “water positive” by 2030, meaning the company will return more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations. MicrosoVscek and Google have made similar commitments. MicrosoVscek has said it is working to reduce the amount of water it uses for cooling, and starting in August, “new data centers we plan for Virginia will use zero-water cooling technologies.” Google declined to comment.
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