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On August 20, 2024
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Environmentalists sound alarm over Virginia's data centers as water consumption skyrockets - SiliconANGLE
Environmentalists sound alarm over Virginia's data centers as water consumption skyrockets Concerns are being raised over the environmental impact of Virginia's data centers after a report revealed they have increased their water consumption by almost two-thirds in the last five years. With the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, there are fears that the situation will only get worse. The report by the Financial Times cites data obtained via freedom of information requests, which reveals that Virginian data centers used more than 1.85 billion gallons of water in 2023 alone, up from 1.13 gallons in 2019. The numbers reportedly come from water authorities in the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier. The extensive amount of water consumption is not a surprise, as Virginia is considered to be the data center capital of the world, home to more than 300 such facilities. The data centers mostly use water for cooling the servers and other racks of infrastructure they house, the main concern is that this consumption will only increase as the adoption of AI proliferates. That's because AI training tasks are considered to be even more energy intensive than regular computing workloads. The report adds that some of Virginia's data centers are located in water-stressed regions, including some areas that are suffering from ongoing drought. Over the last decade, Virginia has seen considerable growth in its data center ecosystem amid the rise in cloud computing trends. According to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the state witnessed a five-fold increase in data center capacity from 2015 to 2023. Previously, concerns have been raised about the amount of land being taken up by data centers, and also the vast amounts of electricity used by such facilities. In 2023, a number of climate advocacy and historical preservation organizations teamed up to create the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition. According to the environmental news website Grist, that organization says it's worried that data centers are popping up at an alarming rate, without any consideration of the consequences of having so many concentrated in one area. The Grist report added that in Loudoun county alone, data centers served by its water authority had increased their use of drinking water by 250% between 2019 and 2023. Worse, their water usage tends to peak during the summer, when the risk of drought is substantially higher. Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, a Virginia-based nonprofit organization, told the Financial Times that the report "raises questions about how sustainable the data center industry is". However, not everyone is as concerned as the environmentalists are. Michael Lesniak of the water systems company Aquatech International Inc. responded to the story on LinkedIn, where he pointed out that most data centers operating in Loudoun use recycled water originating from sewage treatment plants that would otherwise be dumped in the ocean at Chesapeake Bay. Lensiak also claims that fears of water consumption increasing further are unsubstantiated, as most newer facilities, including those designed for AI workloads, will use "zero water" cooling systems. It's notable that the biggest data center operators in the U.S. have all pledged to take action to address concerns over their water consumption. In 2022, Amazon Web Services Inc. announced a plan to become "water-positive" by the end of the decade, meaning it will return more water than it uses. The plan involves recycling water by its data centers, and making it available to farmers for irrigation. On the other hand, Microsoft Corp. last year admitted that its data center water consumption did increase by about a third, due to the rising demand for AI. However, it also plans to become water-positive by 2030.
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Demand for AI is driving data center water consumption sky high
The AI boom is fueling the demand for data centers and, in turn, driving up water consumption. (Water is used to cool the computing equipment inside data centers.) According to the FT, in Virginia -- home to the world's largest concentration of data centers -- water usage jumped by almost two-thirds between 2019 and 2023, from 1.13 billion gallons to 1.85 billion gallons. Many say the trend, playing out worldwide, is unsustainable. Microsoft, a major data center operator, says 42% of the water it consumed in 2023 came from "areas with water stress." Google, which has among the largest data center footprints, said this year that 15% of its freshwater withdrawals came from areas with "high water scarcity." Why can't data centers recycle water in a closed-loop system? Many do, but much of what they consume is set aside for humidity control, meaning it evaporates. Especially in drier regions, air that's not humidified can become a strong conductor of static electricity, which is usually bad news for computers.
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The rapid growth of data centers, driven by AI demand, is causing a significant increase in water consumption. This trend is particularly evident in Virginia, raising alarms among environmentalists about sustainability and resource management.
The exponential growth of data centers, particularly in Virginia's "Data Center Alley," has led to a dramatic surge in water consumption, sparking concerns among environmentalists and local communities. Recent reports indicate that data centers in Virginia consumed over 5.7 billion gallons of water in 2023, a figure that has more than doubled since 2020 1.
The rapid expansion of data centers is largely attributed to the increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services. As AI applications become more prevalent across industries, the need for powerful computing infrastructure has skyrocketed. This trend has led to a significant increase in the number and size of data centers, with major tech companies like Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft expanding their facilities to meet the growing demand 2.
Data centers require substantial amounts of water for cooling their high-performance computing systems. The water is used in cooling towers to dissipate heat generated by servers and other equipment. As AI workloads become more intensive, the cooling requirements have increased proportionally, leading to higher water consumption rates 1.
The escalating water usage has raised significant environmental concerns. Environmentalists argue that the current rate of consumption is unsustainable, particularly in regions prone to water scarcity. The situation in Virginia has become a focal point for these concerns, as the state hosts one of the world's largest concentrations of data centers 2.
In response to these concerns, some tech companies have begun exploring more water-efficient cooling technologies and alternative water sources. Microsoft, for instance, has announced plans to become "water positive" by 2030, aiming to replenish more water than it consumes 1. Other proposed solutions include the use of air-cooled systems and the implementation of water recycling programs within data centers.
As the issue gains more attention, there are calls for increased regulation of data center water usage. Some local governments are considering implementing stricter guidelines for water consumption and mandating the use of more sustainable cooling technologies. These potential regulations could have significant implications for the tech industry and the future development of AI infrastructure 2.
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