This episode was first broadcast on 20 September 2024.

When people talk about the environmental impacts of data centers, normally the discussion focuses on energy usage. It’s something we’ve talked about at several points this year already, with reference to growing efforts to house AI workloads in green data centers that run on renewable energy to reduce their carbon impact.

But while we can generate nearly limitless amounts of green energy, there is a decidedly finite amount of water in the world – and unfortunately, most data centers need vast amounts of fresh water to cool hardware. 

Without care, big tech could push already drought-stricken communities to breaking point.

In this episode, Jane and Rory unpack the growing problem of data center water use, how operators can tackle this, and how it will exacerbate environmental tensions in the near future.

Read more:

• Data center water consumption is spiraling out of control
• Google data centre soaks up a third of Oregon city's water supply
• What is a green data center and why are they attracting big investment?
• Data center waste energy to heat homes in 'UK-first' scheme
• OVHcloud just open sourced its data center liquid cooling system — here’s why
• AWS plans to be 'water positive' by 2030
• Microsoft lays out water-positive plans for next decade