The Colorado River runs over 1,450 miles through seven US states, carving dramatic canyons and providing drinking water for 40 million people before it crosses into Mexico. … Now, in some of the region’s driest stretches, tech companies are bringing a massive influx of water-guzzling data centers. … Documents reviewed by Business Insider show that some of these large data centers, football-field-size warehouses filled with computer servers that power the artificial intelligence revolution, could each demand millions of gallons of water a day, enough for tens of thousands of Americans. Business Insider found that 40% of the nation’s planned and existing data centers are in areas that the nonprofit World Resources Institute, which focuses on sustainability research, has characterized as experiencing “extremely high” or “high” water scarcity. … We found 24 of the largest centers, and 379 smaller ones, in the four states now negotiating over Colorado River allotments. 

Other data center water use news:

• Data Center Dynamics: Blog: Controlling water usage remains one of the biggest questions for data centers
• Wolters Kluwer: Blog: Energy demands will be a growing concern for AI technology