Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas

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Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are rapidly expanding their data centers into water-scarce regions around the world, including parts of the US, Spain, and other continents. These centers use large quantities of water for cooling, which raises concerns in drought-prone areas already facing water shortages.

Investigations by SourceMaterial and The Guardian found that:

  1. The companies are planning a 78% global increase in data centers, many in arid zones.
  2. Water use is often not fully disclosed, and mitigation efforts like "water offsetting" are controversial.
  3. Critics argue that offsetting doesn’t help the local communities that actually lose access to water.
  4. In Spain's Aragon region, new Amazon data centers are licensed to use massive amounts of water, sparking local resistance.
  5. Google and Microsoft also have major data center developments in dry areas like Arizona, despite extreme drought conditions.
  6. Some tech experts and activists are calling for a moratorium on data centers in vulnerable regions, warning of ecological damage and unfair resource use.

Although the companies claim to be working toward being “water positive” by 2030, many experts and insiders doubt the effectiveness or ethics of their strategies.

Read full article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/09/big-tech-datacentres-water