Google pushes water standards amid data center backlash
Facing mounting scrutiny over data center water consumption, Google on Wednesday released a set of guidelines it says should become the industry standard.Why it matters: Communities across the U.S. are increasingly pushing back against new data centers, often citing concerns about water use alongside rising power prices, local air pollution and noise.Google argues that better practices — and more transparency — can help ease those fears.Driving the news: Google's framework calls for:Returning more water to local watersheds than its data centers consume by 2030.Avoiding water-intensive cooling in more water-stressed regions.Helping fund local water infrastructure upgrades.Pursuing alternatives such as reclaimed wastewater.Disclosing water use annually.Reality check: None of these commitments are new on their own.The announcement largely packages together practices Google says it increasingly follows already — while turning them into a formal framework the company hopes others also adopt.By the numbers: In 2024, Google consumed 7.2 billion gallons of freshwater and replenished approximately 4.5 billion gallons of water, which is roughly 64%.What they're saying: "There's so many data center developers, and many of them are not doing it the right way, so people's concerns are legitimate," said Bikash Koley, vice president of global infrastructure at Google."But there is also a lack of information, and water is one of those where lack of information always breeds distrust."Zoom out: Google joins other tech giants including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, which have over the past several years announced goals to better manage their water consumption at their data center operations.While those efforts have largely focused on company-specific targets, Google is positioning its guidelines as a framework it hopes the broader industry will adopt.How it works: Data centers need cooling because the chips running AI generate enormous heat.That cooling happens in two main places: first, close to the chips themselves; and second, across the broader building.For the hottest AI chips, companies are increasingly using liquid cooling, which moves heat away from the chips through sealed pipes. Google says its closed-loop systems use very little water because it's continuously recirculated.Yes, but: That heat still has to leave the building. The main tradeoff is between water and power.Evaporative cooling uses water to carry heat away and can require less electricity, while air cooling uses little or no water onsite but can require more electricity.Air cooling consumes on average 10% more energy than evaporative cooling, and roughly twice that on a hot day, said Koley."It becomes a tradeoff between reducing stress on the grid versus reducing stress on the watershed," Koley said.State of play: Roughly two-thirds of Google's data centers use evaporative cooling, while the remaining third is a combination of air-cooled or using recycled, non-conventional water resources, said Ben Townsend, head of infrastructure and sustainability at Google.Between the lines: Google is making a more nuanced argument than many data center critics.The company argues evaporative cooling can be the better environmental choice in places where water supplies aren't under stress because it reduces electricity demand.Case in point: Google officials pointed to a new data center in India using air-cooling technologies, and the American Southwest generally as examples of where their due diligence into the local water supplies compelled them to use less-water intensive cooling methods.What we're watching: Google executives declined to predict the company's future water use, saying local conditions heavily influence what cooling methods are deployed. Its 2025 numbers are coming out in a few weeks.The bottom line: Google says that the share of its data centers using air cooling is rising, a sign that water concerns are increasingly shaping how companies design the infrastructure behind the AI boom.
