Data Centers Use Far More Water Making Electricity Than Cooling Themselves, Report Finds

A Ceres report published August 25, 2026 finds that generating the electricity data centers need — not the cooling systems inside them — accounts for most of their water use. Across seven states hosting half of U.S. data centers, 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater are consumed yearly for power generation, about 12 times the combined annual water use of Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.