AI competition makes Google's data center water consumption soar, up 20% year-on-year

CTOnews.com July 25, Google recently released its 2023 Environmental report [PDF], which mentioned that water consumption is soaring.

Google consumed 5.6 billion gallons of water in 2022, equivalent to 37 golf courses, of which 5.2 billion gallons were used in the company's data centers, up 20 per cent from a year earlier.

The report details the environmental costs of running large data centers, which usually require large amounts of water to stay cool, and Google's water consumption will soar further in the foreseeable future as the AI race intensifies.

Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside (University of California,Riverside), said the 20 per cent increase in water consumption was roughly in line with the increase in Google's computing power, which is largely driven by artificial intelligence.

CTOnews.com quoted Ren as saying that even if Google promised to replenish water to offset its use, the growth in water consumption in the data center would be long-term.

Google aims to replenish 120% of the fresh water consumed in its offices and data centers by 2023, but has so far replenished only 6%.

In its latest report, Google said it took into account "local water pressure", another way of indicating scarcity, and said 82 per cent of its fresh water extraction in 2022 came from areas with low water pressure.