Questions about water that deserve a straight answer.
Every figure below carries its source. If we cannot source it, we do not state it.
How much water does a data centre use?
United States data centres directly consumed about 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, up from roughly 5.6 billion gallons in 2014, and about 97% of that came from municipal drinking water systems. Direct cooling water is only part of the picture: the water embedded in the electricity a facility draws is typically the larger share, and it is rarely reported..
What is water usage effectiveness (WUE), and why are published figures not comparable?
Water usage effectiveness is the ratio of water used to IT energy consumed, expressed in litres per kilowatt hour. It is a useful internal efficiency metric and a poor comparison metric, because operators calculate it on different bases and rarely publish which basis they used..
Does a municipal water meter measure how much water a facility consumes?
No. A municipal meter measures withdrawal, which is what the utility bills for.
How is data centre water use independently verified?
Verification requires four things to be true at once: the figure is measured on the pipe rather than estimated from an invoice, measurement is continuous rather than periodic, every instrument carries a trust score so an untrustworthy sensor yields a hold rather than a value, and the underlying records are replayable so a third party can recompute the totals and get the same answer..
What is Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA 2.0), and what does it require?
VWBA is the World Resources Institute's method for quantifying the water benefit of a replenishment activity, so that a claim such as water positive can be stated in volumetric terms. Version 2.0 requires that quantification be scientifically defensible, but it does not specify a measurement protocol for producing the underlying figures..
Which places have paused or refused data centres over water?
Water has moved from a reporting preference to a planning constraint. In Canada, Mississauga paused data-centre approvals on 29 July 2026 and Oakville followed with an interim control bylaw on 11 August 2026.