How U.S. Data Centers, Led by Texas, Are Draining Water and Energy Supply

Child in rural America looking at farmland bout to be turned into a data center.

We just read a Newsweek article with the headline: Texas Data Centers Use 50 Billion Gallons of Water as State Faces Drought. In plain English, the water used by Texas data centers in a year could supply roughly 560,000 Texas households for an entire year! While this figure highlights the scale of water use in Texas, it also reflects a growing challenge for U.S. data centers nationwide—facilities across the country are consuming massive amounts of water and energy, raising questions about the sustainability of the nation’s digital infrastructure.

If you don’t live in Texas, you may wonder, “what does this have to do with me?” But this is not Las Vegas, folks. What happens in Texas does not stay in Texas. Data center growth is a national issue.

A liquid cooling system is being installed on a row of Equinix data centre cabinets. Copyright: Behnam Barghabany for Financial Times

Platocom addressed a related challenge last year in a blog titled "Hi Siri. Will AI’s Need for Energy Lead Us to an Energy Crisis?" (Jul 11, 2024). As the U.S. grappled with a severe heatwave, the energy demands of AI technologies were drawing attention to the nation’s power capacity. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, finally acknowledged what researchers have warned for years: the AI industry is on course for an energy crisis. Platocom asked:

Can the U.S. infrastructure and power grid keep up with the increasing demands from AI alongside the established needs of agriculture, industry, government, and households?

Where Your Digital Life Lives: Inside U.S. Data Centers

If you’ve ever wondered where your emails, TikToks, or AI-generated playlists “live,” the answer is: in massive data centers—giant warehouses packed with computers, quietly humming away across the United States. From coast to coast, these digital giants are sprouting in cities and suburbs alike. As Texas illustrates with its rapidly expanding data hub scene, these facilities are putting a serious strain on both local water and power supplies—a challenge that communities nationwide are starting to feel.

This is a mockup of a data center in a desert just to show the scale and hint to the water needed to keep it operating.

The Hidden Thirst of the Internet

Every time you stream a show or ask an AI chatbot a question, a data center is working overtime. To keep those powerful computers from overheating, these facilities rely heavily on cooling systems—often water-based. In Texas alone, data centers are expected to gulp down about 49 billion gallons of water this year—enough to supply 560,000 households for a year. And while these centers keep the digital world running, local residents are being told to take shorter showers and cut lawn watering because of the ongoing drought.

DataCenters.com writes:

Texas, a state long associated with energy abundance, is facing an urgent and escalating challenge: water scarcity. Once buffered by vast aquifers and seasonal rains, the Lone Star State is now confronting a future where droughts are more severe, reservoirs are depleting, and one of its fastest-growing industries—data centers—is becoming a significant factor in the water equation. 

Liquid cooling at Equinix facilities. Copyright: Behnam Barghabany for Financial Times

Drought Meets Digital Demand

Texas is no stranger to drought, but the timing couldn’t be worse. About a quarter of the state is still facing dry conditions, and water restrictions are becoming the norm in many communities. Meanwhile, the tech boom is only accelerating, with more data centers popping up to power everything from cloud storage to artificial intelligence.

But when it comes to water, no statewide rules limit how much data centers can use.

Power Grid Under Pressure

It’s not just water. These data centers are also huge energy hogs, putting extra pressure on Texas’ already stretched power grid. The state has even passed new laws requiring emergency shutoff switches for data centers, so the grid can cut their power during crises like heat waves or winter storms. But when it comes to water, no statewide rules limit how much data centers can use.

Searching for Solutions

Some tech companies are making changes—adopting more efficient air-cooling systems, recycling water within their facilities, and pledging to become “water positive” in the coming years. Still, experts warn that without greater transparency and coordinated state-level planning, Texas risks seeing its digital expansion outpace its ability to supply critical resources like water and power.

The Bottom Line

From streaming movies to running cloud services, data centers are now as essential to daily life as highways or the electric grid. But in a state facing record heat, recurring drought, and a stretched power system, growth at this scale comes with trade-offs. Texas’ challenge—and the nation’s—is finding a sustainable balance between fueling the digital economy and safeguarding the resources communities depend on.

With demand for AI and cloud projected to grow rapidly nationwide, U.S. data centers are expected to account for up to 12% of total electricity consumption by 2030, up from around 4% in 2023. Texas may be the early warning of the pressures every state will soon face.

Let Us Know if You Want to Read More About This

In the US, Virginia state legislators have advanced a bill aimed at addressing data centres’ water use. The bill would authorise municipalities to require centres to submit water use estimates as part of building requirements. Virginia is currently home to one of the world’s biggest concentrations of data centres, used by companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft (source: The Financial Times)