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Is data-center water use just cooling?

It depends what you count. At the data center itself, water goes mostly to cooling. But LBNL estimates the water used by power plants to make a data center’s electricity is far larger, nearly 800 billion liters in the U.S. in 2023, against 66 billion liters used directly.

Checked on Oct 2, 2026

Short answer

ConfirmedDepends what you count

66 vs ~800 billion L

direct vs indirect water, U.S. data centers, 2023 (LBNL estimates)

The evidence

LBNL separates two kinds of water. Direct water is used at the data center itself and mostly for cooling. LBNL estimates U.S. data centers directly consumed 21.2 billion liters in 2014 and a total of 66 billion liters in 2023.1 Indirect water is used by power plants to make the electricity the data centers run on. LBNL puts the indirect figure at nearly 800 billion liters in 2023.1

The indirect number is about 12 times the direct one (our arithmetic, 800 ÷ 66).

Local water still matters. LBNL notes that the water evaporating in cooling towers “has raised concerns regarding data center water consumption and availability at the local level.”1 A town’s water supply cares about the direct number where the building is, not the national total.

Consumption is not withdrawal. The USGS defines consumptive use as the part of withdrawn water that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment.2 When you see a water number for a data center, check which of the two it measures.

What we don’t know

  • LBNL’s indirect figure is an estimate built on the regional electricity mix for each data center location. It does not include power purchase agreements or on-site “behind the meter” generation, which LBNL says could significantly change the result. LBNL assumes the local grid mix because facility-level data is not available.1
  • These are estimates, not meter readings, and they cover U.S. data centers in 2023. This page has no sourced figure for other countries.
  • LBNL projects hyperscale data centers alone to directly consume between 60 and 124 billion liters in 2028, and expects indirect water consumption to increase too. How much it changes depends on the future electricity mix, which LBNL says should be considered in later estimates.1
  • How much of any one data center’s water is for AI, and how much its local community feels, is not answered by national totals.
About the label. Confirmed means we read a primary source for the figures on this page. Company claims and projections are still marked as such. Our own arithmetic and opinions are marked as ours. Found a mistake? mike@ohmyai.ai. The short versions of all eight myths are on Myths vs Facts.

Sources for this page

  1. 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (LBNL-2001637). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.Published Dec 2024 · figures checked Oct 2, 2026
  2. Water Science School: Water-use terminology. U.S. Geological Survey.Current page · checked Oct 2, 2026