A report highlights the surge in water consumption by US data centers, rising from 17.4 billion gallons in 2023 to a projected 72.6 billion gallons by 2028, a fourfold increase. This expansion occurs amid water scarcity exacerbated by prolonged drought conditions, raising sustainability concerns for these facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2026 water-reuse plan, involving major players such as Amazon Web Services, aims to remove regulatory barriers to recycled-water cooling. Meanwhile, legislative discussions are emerging in Oklahoma regarding a potential moratorium on data center construction.
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