STUDY FINDS QUARTER OF DATA CENTRES IN WATER-STRESSED AREAS

Researchers found that about a quarter of the world’s data centres sit in areas where water demand exceeds supply for at least one month each year. A team led by the Carnegie Institution for Science mapped 9,347 operational data centres against local water availability and demand. Its analysis found that about 6% of the facilities are in areas that experience water stress for most of the year. The researchers assessed demand from cities, agriculture, manufacturing and power generation. Their findings concern the local supplies that data centres use to cool servers.

Data centres draw cooling water from nearby rivers, lakes and aquifers, whose levels can change with the seasons. The study found that cities and municipalities are the largest water users near 41% of the mapped facilities. Agriculture accounts for the largest share of water use near a further 28%. Lorenzo Rosa, the study’s lead author, said water scarcity was measured locally, inconsistently and sometimes not at all. “So, we built the map because it did not exist,” he said.

Under a climate scenario with average global temperatures 3°C above 1900 levels, the researchers projected that the share of data centres in water-stressed areas could rise to 33% within as little as 10 years. That projection depends on the scenario used and the researchers’ assessment of local water supplies. Rosa said electricity use was easier to measure because providers meter and report it. “These facilities are not landing in empty landscapes,” he said. “They are landing on top of the water supply of cities and farms.”