Though we hear lots about data center water use, a little perspective is worthwhile. Actually, industry in general, and data centers in particular, represent a small part of water consumption in the desert-like U.S. southwest, for example.
In the Colorado River Basin, where I live, agriculture accounts for about 74 percent of direct human water use and 52 percent of overall consumptive use (including reservoir and other evaporation), a study estimates.
Water consumed for agriculture amounts to three times all other direct uses combined. Cattle feed crops including alfalfa and other grass hays account for 46 percent of all direct water consumption.
Another study by Landsat found that in the Colorado River basin, 52 percent of consumption was for agriculture; natural vegetation representing 19 percent of use; evaporation claiming 11 percent of the water and households plus cities and industry consuming 18 percent of the Colorado river’s water.
We need to be thoughtful about data center water consumption, to be sure. But data centers are not the problem, in the Colorado River basin supporting 40 million people. In Colorado, for example, data center water consumption is a negligible percentage of total water consumption.
In Colorado, agriculture consumes 89 percent of the water used by industrial, municipal and agricultural users, for example. Consumers use no more than 20 percent of total water.
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