AI’s unseen water toll could reach 765 billion litres in 2025
TL;DR Summary
A peer-reviewed model estimates AI-related water use in 2025 could range from about 312.5 to 764.6 billion litres (peaking at 765 billion), driven by data-centre cooling and electricity production. It’s not a global meter reading—it's a boundary-bound estimate built from limited disclosures, meaning real totals are uncertain. Water used in manufacturing and construction is excluded. Advances in cooling and cleaner power can cut on-site use, but transparency about where AI workloads run and site-level water/power metrics is essential to clarify the footprint.
- AI's hidden water footprint may have reached 765 billion litres in 2025 — consumed in data-centre cooling and the power plants supplying them. That's more than twice the volume of bottled water the entire world buys in a year. Silicon Canals
- In Texas and New Mexico, AI data centers may consume 10 times more water than Big Tech says Yahoo
- Hidden environmental cost of powering growing digital and AI-world The Hindu
- Data centers' cooling systems vary in terms of water use, efficiency Spectrum News
- Will AI data centers soak up the last of the valley’s water? Fresno Bee
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