A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US. … The push comes amid a growing revolt against moves by companies such as Meta, Google and Open AI to plow hundreds of billions of dollars into new datacenters, primarily to meet the huge computing demands of AI. At least 16 datacenter projects, worth a combined $64bn, have been blocked or delayed due to local opposition to rising electricity costs. The facilities’ need for huge amounts of water to cool down equipment has also proved controversial, particularly in drier areas where supplies are scarce.

Other data center water use news:

• The New York Times: A mysterious company came to town with a $165 billion idea
• Grist: The Trump administration’s data center push could open the door for new forever chemicals
• Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nev.): Google runs Southern Nevada’s thirstiest data center. UNLV students have a solution
• Comstock’s magazine (Sacramento, Calif.): Companies are racing to fuel and cool AI