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marmar

(80,238 posts) Mon Jun 8, 2026, 09:32 AM 7 hrs ago

Majority of US's new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land

(Guardian) A record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless, with the majority of planned datacenters set to be built in drought-ridden locations, a Guardian analysis has found.

About two-thirds of upcoming datacenters, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in places that have been among the driest in the country over the past year.

Of 809 planned datacenters, 517 are in locations that have been in drought conditions throughout the past year, according to data from Cleanview and the federal government, which grades drought across four levels of severity. A similar proportion of existing datacenters are already situated in drought-affected areas.

More than 60% of the contiguous US is currently at varying stages of drought, the largest expanse for spring in modern records, with a particularly severe lack of rain and snow in the south-east and west desiccating croplands and raising fears of a disastrous wildfire season. ..................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/08/datacenter-ai-drought-water

9 replies

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Majority of US's new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land (Original Post) marmar 7 hrs ago OP

The land is cheap, it's often very poor rural areas mwmisses4289 7 hrs ago #1

This message was self-deleted by its author jeffreyi 6 hrs ago #7

How many politicians are calling for a moratorium on data centers? Passages 7 hrs ago #2

Aren't they mostly red areas? dem4decades 7 hrs ago #3

Kick dalton99a 7 hrs ago #4

So this raises the question of where they plan on getting the water, if not locally. harumph 6 hrs ago #5

I posted a thread two years ago about AI companies preferring dry climates to avoid corrosion, highplainsdem 6 hrs ago #6

Why can't they recycle the water? Wifes husband 2 hrs ago #8

$$$ Angleae 28 min ago #9

mwmisses4289

(4,918 posts)

1. The land is cheap, it's often very poor rural areas

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 09:44 AM

7 hrs ago

that are desperate for anything that might bring a hint of additional income, and the folks putting in these centers just don't give a flying fuck about anyone else.

Response to mwmisses4289 (Reply #1)

jeffreyi This message was self-deleted by its author.

Passages

(4,577 posts)

2. How many politicians are calling for a moratorium on data centers?

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 09:49 AM

7 hrs ago

But a stampede of new datacenters are adding extra demands via their hefty energy and water requirements. Large datacenters, some the size of small towns, can require up to 5m gallons of water a day, equivalent to the water use of up to 50,000 people, in order to provide cooling to arrays of humming networked computers.

Overall, the multiplying datacenters across the US are set to demand as much as 73bn gallons of water a year by 2028, up from about 17bn gallons in 2023. Each 100-word AI prompt uses up roughly one 500ml bottle of water due to the cooling needs of datacenters, researchers have estimated.

dem4decades

(14,523 posts)

3. Aren't they mostly red areas?

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 09:50 AM

7 hrs ago

dalton99a

(95,827 posts)

4. Kick

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 10:06 AM

7 hrs ago

harumph

(3,465 posts)

5. So this raises the question of where they plan on getting the water, if not locally.

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 10:23 AM

6 hrs ago

highplainsdem

(63,428 posts)

6. I posted a thread two years ago about AI companies preferring dry climates to avoid corrosion,

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 10:56 AM

6 hrs ago

which is something the article you posted also mentions.

OP from May 15, 2024:

Data centers are draining resources in water-stressed communities
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218952149

Dry air reduces the risk of corrosion and electrical issues in the sensitive equipment in the data centers. The lack of humidity in water-stressed regions, such as the American Southwest, makes it an attractive location for data centers. This means that the regions in which it is “best” to locate a data center due to its arid environment has the highest marginal cost in terms of water consumption.

Wifes husband

(777 posts)

8. Why can't they recycle the water?

Reply to marmar (Original post)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 02:24 PM

2 hrs ago

Angleae

(4,825 posts)

9. $$$

Reply to Wifes husband (Reply #8)

Mon Jun 8, 2026, 04:38 PM

28 min ago

Making the liquid cooling system recyclable costs money and why would they do that when they can get the politicians to give them priority access to water just like aluminum smelters have for electricity.

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