The alarming water consumption practices of major US technology companies has come into focus as sustainability practices are increasingly scrutinised.
According to recent research from the Financial Times, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure has seen a surge in tech giants’ water usage.
While the environmental impact of AI is yet to be fully evaluated, and whilst water cooling has been found to reduce emissions, it comes at the expense of high levels of water use.
Data centres, which are crucial for cooling high-performance hardware, have become significant contributors to this issue.
These facilities use air mechanisms to dissipate heat, leading to the evaporation of up to nine litres of water per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy consumed.
With around two-thirds of the global population experiencing severe water shortages for at least one month every year - affecting about 2.7 billion people - this is an increasingly troubling trend.
In 2023, data centres in Virginia, often referred to as 'data centre alley', consumed at least seven billion litres of water. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) revealed that 42% of its global water usage came from regions facing water stress, while Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported that 15% of its freshwater withdrawals originated from areas of high water scarcity.
The environmental impact of AI remains partially assessed but its demands are evident. AI servers, which generate significantly more heat than traditional systems, require six times more kilowatts per rack. A single interaction with ChatGPT of 5 to 50 prompts consumes about 500 millilitres of water.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has pledged to become "water positive" by 2030, aiming to enhance its water stewardship. However, environmentalists caution that the increasing need for computing infrastructure due to AI advancements will exacerbate water consumption issues.