Data Centers and Hidden Water Use

Silicon Valley’s appetite for data is well known. Its thirst is less understood. Amid record drought in California and other parts of the American West, the machines that support everything from Instagram photos to Netflix movie marathons require substantial quantities of water for the air-conditioning systems needed to keep the servers cool. California has more than 800 data centers, the most of any state, according to an estimate by tech consultancy 451 Research LLC that excludes smaller computer rooms that businesses use. Based on that and estimates for water use, the state’s data centers consume roughly as much water in a year as 158,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.

At a time when California authorities are telling waiters not to automatically offer water, data centers’ water use has largely escaped scrutiny. While data centers water needs are small relative to agriculture and power producers, their growth is entangling the state’s most successful business with its most pressing environmental problem. Industry efforts at greater efficiency so far have mainly focused on power. Some data center operators are looking for ways to reduce their demands on municipal water systems, by reusing dirty water or harvesting rainwater. Others are setting up giant storage tanks or digging their own wells.