Data center builders don’t tell the public how much water they use, according to a new report — and the industry is encroaching into water-stressed and vulnerable communities. The report, by the think tank Next10 and researchers at Santa Clara University, finds that planned data centers — the ganglia of artificial intelligence — are spreading to regions reliant on overtapped groundwater and strained surface water, with potentially major effects in the Central and Imperial Valleys. But, reinforcing previous studies, the researchers found that a patchwork of state, federal and local policies allow data center operators to avoid publicly disclosing their actual water use.  

Other data center water use news around the West:

• Deseret News (Salt Lake City): Here’s what’s happening with data center projects in other states
• Utah News Dispatch: Data center: New water rights law gives less weight to pushback citing broad impact​
• Imperial Valley Press (El Centro, Calif.): Imperial County lawsuit challenges ‘Data Center Prohibition Act’ over claims of voter overreach
• The Desert Review (Brawley, Calif.): Study examines water use and environmental impacts of California data centers
• American Rivers: Blog: Data centers and rivers — protecting clean water and river health