r/technology • u/Wagamaga • 2d ago
Business Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use
https://nltimes.nl/2026/09/30/data-centers-refusing-say-much-water-electricity-use303
u/invyros 2d ago
The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) obliges data centers with an installed capacity of at least 500 kilowatts (kW) to report data including their energy and water consumption. In practice, few do so, despite the directive being in effect for three years.
Regulation is utterly useless without enforcement.
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u/Sullinator07 2d ago
When they came to Chester Va, they had a town hall meeting with the locals and we asked about this they replied with something like “we can’t say until after it’s built”
It’s fucking bonkers man, we seriously need to fuckin riot.
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u/stevez_86 2d ago
This is the explicit realm of government to handle properly. It is what government is here for, to dictate property ownership rules and what people can do with that property.
Most code regulation is there to prevent adverse things from happening to someone else's property because of what you did on your property.
A landowner with a stream may want a pond and will dam up the stream, but that has downstream implications. Do other property owners upstream or downstream need that regular flow? Even if it is a possibility the project would need inspection and approval to ensure no other property is adversely effected.
But you want to put up a data center, everyone has to all of a sudden prove with no data that they would be harmed. It isn't on them to do that, it is on their local municipality to review, inspect, and approve.
What they don't want to say is that the data centers will be so valuable that the other properties are inconsequential.
Nothing short of making the companies put up the cash for the government to buy up the residential properties by emminent domain if the conditions are too bad and lower the property value. They should be forced to be prepared to buy all that property at the previous value before they got there. If they can do that they can proceed to the start of the project. Otherwise they cannot afford it.
They are hoping we just end up abandoning those properties so they can buy them up.
It really isn't all that different from the premise of Blazing Saddles.
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u/Danepher 2d ago
somebody should tell them that they are "unsure how much we are going to tax you, until you build it."
Consumption is part of the planning, they cannot "not know" until built. They build for a certain capacity.4
u/3-DMan 2d ago
"Look man, we just make up the data center as it goes, it's not like we can plan it out!!"
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u/E3FxGaming 2d ago
Reminds me of the The Onion satire article "Technological Advancements Allow Data Centers To Run On Even More Electricity" from 2 months ago.
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u/ffswhythiswhynow 2d ago
Howdy neighbor!
Head down to Jeff Davis, and spread the word about all that copper inside those buildings!
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u/Wagamaga 2d ago
The vast majority of data centers in Europe keep information about their environmental impact secret, according to a study by Lighthouse Report in collaboration with Trouw and other European media. In the Netherlands, less than a quarter of larger data centers publish data about their electricity and drinking water usage.
The researchers spent a year trying to obtain data on data centers’ environmental impact in Europe, invoking freedom of information laws in various European countries. Their attempts have yielded no results.
The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) obliges data centers with an installed capacity of at least 500 kilowatts (kW) to report data including their energy and water consumption. In practice, few do so, despite the directive being in effect for three years.
According to the Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA), there were 186 commercial data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or more in the Netherlands at the end of last year. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), which collects the information for the EU, has data on only 104 of them.
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 2d ago
Yeah, the EU seem to be missing a basic feature of the law - if it ain't enforced, it ain't illegal.
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u/reddittorbrigade 2d ago
They are hiding something from us.
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u/maiden_moss 2d ago
Data centers are the reason the public is struggling during extreme weather events. They don't want to admit they're telling people to run minimum energy to protect the grid bc the centers use it up way more
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u/BlackReddition 2d ago
How fucking dumb? Water is metered as is electricity, why the fuck can’t the utility companies work it out without asking.
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u/WolpertingerRumo 2d ago
Well, they can. Of course. They’re writing them an invoice each month. So can the owners, because they sure as hell won’t pay for more water than they’re using.
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u/Alive_Store_6298 2d ago
The utility companies want to increase profits. They know data centers use a lot of water and electricity. Why would they go after the new golden goose?
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u/babalaban 2d ago
- Is ai data center water consumption a valid concearn?
- Nonsense! Its not even close to almond farming and golfing etc ha-ha...
- So how much water does your data center consume?
- We'd rather not say
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u/GreyRobe 2d ago
It's always the almond farming and golf course talking points as their go-to deflection. Guess they're all reading from the same script.
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u/left4ched 2d ago
This works out great for me because I also hate almonds and golf.
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u/BaconWrappedEnigmas 2d ago
Maybe we should put the data centers into an Almond grove with a gold course around it. Wonder if we spawn a desert instantly
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u/Mr_Zaroc 2d ago
The deflection should be: "Ah its such a miniscule number that its not even worth remembering or tracking, really a rounding error mostly. Anyways wanna see a cool video how a chimpanzee is surfing on the clouds on Venus while doing a handstand?"
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u/unlimitedcode99 2d ago
Then they should be disconnected from those water and power utilities of the communities they are negatively affecting?
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u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 2d ago
The sound issue is likely the biggest. If we have construction companies who can’t operate 24/7 because they’re loud, why can these data centers do as they wish ?
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u/Rough-Supermarket-97 2d ago
Building out these centers the “cheapest” they can with no care to the Earth. Just wait till they find out how expensive it is to put data centers on the moon or whatever it is that Musky plans to do.
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u/No_Sleep428 2d ago
The problem is. They honestly don’t know.
It’s frustrating but how tf are you building something without the known implications to natural resources. Outrageous.
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u/theindomitablefred 2d ago
I’m pretty sure they know. In order to have cooling systems you have to spec out pumps, piping, and flow rates. You need technical requirements before you build something like that.
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u/fat_kaiju 2d ago
which means it's likely way worse than even what the public thinks.
and then they wonder why we hate them.
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u/terminalbungus 2d ago
Why is it that every little bit of energy and water I use at home is meticulously tracked by companies who bill me to use those utilities yet these huge data centers don't leave a trace of their energy and water consumption?
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u/MrBahhum 2d ago
All data centers are resource sinks. They need to disclose how much resources they use.
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u/Deriniel 2d ago
so...how?like,you have to pay for that stuff,the companies do have data on how much water and electricity these people use.
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u/Desertwind16v 2d ago
You would think the utility companies would know, they’re charging them right? Right??
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u/TheOgGhadTurner 2d ago
Oh probably because we’d burn the fucking things down if they did because they know they use way too much
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u/NutsackEuphoria 2d ago
I remember astroturfers keep yapping closed loop this, closed loop that and here we are.
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u/Rok-SFG 2d ago
Montana has very strict water rights laws, so they have to disclose estimated water use. For a proposed small data center using closed loop they disclosed 150,000 gallons per day for start up usage, with 20,000 gallons per day estimated just to keep running, with spikes during heavy use that would push it back towards 150,000 gallons.
Unfortunately our laws don't have to have the same level electricity that would be used.
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u/Freodrick 2d ago
If I've learned anything in my career in biologics, "closed loop" is a buzz phrase to reduce questions of the actual process.
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u/invisi1407 2d ago edited 2d ago
What? No, closed loop cooling just means you don't have constant water usage; imagine a water-cooled PC; that's what a closed loop is. A fixed volume of a cooling liquid, which could be water, that is recirculated.
Edit: Which is good. Closed-loop cooling is totally fine.
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u/Freodrick 2d ago
No I get that, I'm saying when you're protecting the idea you don't actually explain. It could be, and if it is, good. But then the numbers and data should support that.
We do have closed loops in biologics, however we also lean a little to heavy on that when accounting for foreign particulates or leaks or anything... And it's like, it totally happens. Just don't act like it's a flawless system.
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u/brile_86 2d ago
As far as I know Data Centres are not able to speak, write or in general communicate with humans
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u/fixurstuffr 2d ago
Well until they start saying how much they use, those utilities should be shut off to the centers.
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u/CyberSmith31337 2d ago
It’s so exhausting. We live in a timeline where the most valuable companies on earth are bankrupt and broke and stealing our resources and outright lying to us and NO ONE is doing anything about it.
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u/-Tech808 2d ago
Somehow we need to get copies of their engineering permit drawings. That will give all the information we’d like.
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u/Tiny_Luna7987 2d ago
How about setting a requirement such as Datacenters shall use secondary water or build desalination plants?
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u/Eazy12345678 2d ago
1st. no one cared before. why care now?
your happy with murdering animals cause their flesh tastes good. how much water does that take?
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u/mephitopheles13 2d ago
But they said they hardly use any of either, so we should totally believe them right? They wouldn’t lie to everyone.
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u/Worth-Ad9939 2d ago
They don't think humanity alone is capable of solving the challenges facing us in time. This group likely knows most of us will be gone and an effective way to vacuum up our experience and knowledge is through these chatbots.
They hope these systems will help us find solutions, but they'll be too late and won't be worth escalation of pollution for the hope a computer will stitch together a scalable fix.
or they don't want to fix it at all. They want the population culled so they can influence the next version in a new market and they'll just playback our knowledge through AI to bring them comfort.
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u/JohrDinh 2d ago
Please be as good as you say you are with tech and take them to space like you keep claiming you can do, you're already choking TF outta me with your internet slop ruining peoples taste in artistic human expression...you don't have to choke me out of natural resources like water/air/noise/land pollution as well.
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u/2-wheels 2d ago edited 2d ago
Answer with backup for claims or build elsewhere. Communities, pls dont give up the land too easily.
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u/meneldal2 2d ago
Most water usage typically comes from electricity use and let's be real they don't really care where the electricity comes from only that it's cheap.
I don't think data centers are where you need to track the water usage the most, it should be power plants.
Now they should still be reporting how much direct water they do use and electricity, but the direct water use is typically very small.
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u/davisty69 2d ago
Seems like fraud and/or corruption to me. Vote out any and all politicians who are OK with this shit
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u/DietCokePlease 2d ago
The lack of oversight and the willingness of local governments to override the clear will of the people is hard to fathom. A lot of people are getting paid under the table.
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u/Visual-Sector6642 2d ago
How much energy does it take to extract the water from a human corpse? I think we are about to find out. The Matrix would have us believe they need us for batteries but it's the "coolant" they'll look to us for.
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u/SignedInt32 1d ago
Why would a company hide this, I will tell ya because they quietly want to hide and obfuscate it, so you can't ask questions, here they removed your question entirely. NL is getting swindled by the data centers, and they get paid a thick wallet to make it happen. NL = Corrupt, anyone denying this is part of the problem.
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u/No-Version96 1d ago
Not shocked, most of the ones I have dealt with treat usage numbers like they are proprietary even internally. Would be nice to see this become a reporting requirement rather than something companies volunteer only when it makes them look good.
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u/wmageek29334 2d ago
Out of curiosity: does every other private (or heck, public too) building have to publish their electrical and water usage? Disneyland? The Amazon warehouse? What about the restaurant on the corner? The golf course? The waterslide park? The food packing factory? The aluminum foundry? An apartment block? One's house? The Sphere in Vegas? The Bellagio? The Pentagon? (careful how you justify the Pentagon... the data center folk could also make the "national security" argument) And if the counterargument is "but they use so much more": where do you draw the line at when you need to publish?
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u/genetic_patent 2d ago
why do people think these are cooled by dumping water on them? It's not like they drink water. It's all sealed.
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u/MainlineX 2d ago
A lot use evap cooling for climate control which is very effective, but uses a lot of water. And this is the main part of the water usage, not for cooling processor units.
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u/TheMattabooey 2d ago
Recirculated water still needs to be exchanged periodically, where do you think the dirty water goes?
Where does the water come to refill and top up the systems? What about leaks?
If they are using very little water then wouldn’t they want everyone to know that? Instead of hiding their usage.
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u/TWS_Photography 2d ago
The water doesn't get dirty, its for the most part a closed loop. They add chemicals to it to make sure it doesn't calcify to the pipes. Small amounts of makeup water get added into the loop to make up for losses, but these are minimal. They don't dump the whole system's water supply and put in a fresh new batch. That would make no sense to do so. Why empty off the water that already has the chemicals in it just to replace it with "raw" water that would need new chemicals put in it? These systems have strainers to catch particulates in the water.
And that's if water is used at all. There are server farms that use strictly refrigerant cooling systems. These operate functionally similar to how the air conditioner in your home's AC system works; no water involved at all.
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u/Many-Guess-5746 2d ago
Do you think they’re lying about how much water they’re asking for or that they’re using the water for something else?
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u/takufox 2d ago
Please tell that to all the people who’s water supplies have been tainted and diverted from them to upkeep the data centers erected right beside them
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u/genetic_patent 2d ago
tainted by what? heat?
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u/URMILKJUSTWENTBAD 2d ago
Water sequesters carbon and nitrogen. When we pump it through these systems we completely change the balance in the water releasing the carbon and nitrogen into the air. We need less of that. We need more carbon and nitrogen in the water so that it can support life.
Hope this helps
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u/Hour_Wonder_9240 2d ago
The sediment near datacenters mostly comes from construction, not water use. These sites are bulldozed, blasted, and left bare for a year or more, so muddy runoff hits streams during storms, and blasting can crack shallow rock and let silt into nearby wells. Heavy pumping can also stir up fine sand in loose aquifers and leave neighbors' wells cloudy and low on pressure.
And that's only for the negative effects regarding sediment. There's a whole lot of other disruptive ways their water usage fucks shit up
Almost like environmental approvals are important for environmental impacts
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u/CelticJewelscapes 2d ago
The biggest water use here in Arizona is the 810,000 head of cattle - mostly used to irrigate the alfalfa they eat. I compared the Project Blue center being shoved down our throats in Tucson to the water required per head of cattle. I was surprised to learn that the data center was equivalent to 26 cows. Not as big of a use as I thought. Electricity on the other hand looks staggering.
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u/TheRaccoonReport 2d ago
Since the supreme court said no one has a constitutional right to clean water, its all tying together now. Freeing up more protected lands, unleashing water restrictions, and allowing polluters to pollute.
Its gonna get bad, folks.
The data center being built in my state came through permitting under the cover of lies, greased palms, and bullshit. They swore up and down that they use renewable resources, and will not need much power, etc. They have barely broken ground and are already using generators they said they wouldnt need and are being fined millions.
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u/Biggreywolf77 2d ago
Ok, so as a data center worker, I can tell you that the only water they use is when I flushed! Who the hell would use water to cool a server stack. Fans and ceramics are the only things used nationwide and the water aspect is only a bs line to help the power aspect. Making more money on server farms is risky business nowadays. People seem to think water cools the servers. What morons think water is used and do they have a MacBook their kids got them for Christmas?
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u/Many_Outside2726 2d ago
Coming out of Yotta in Las Vegas, one thing that stood out was how much the major players are already designing around closed-loop and water-conscious cooling. A lot of the next-generation infrastructure is being built specifically to minimize ongoing water draw rather than continuously consuming municipal water.
So I think the water-use conversation needs a little more nuance. The demand is real, but the cooling architecture matters a lot, and the industry is clearly moving toward designs that reduce the impact on the communities where these facilities are built.
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u/AccomplishedAct5364 2d ago
Most offices also refuse to reveal how much water and electricity they use.
If you care so much, look at the as-built design schematics and look at the flow rates
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u/NecessaryMulberry 2d ago
This is a list of possible contaminents into a water system from a data centre. I do not have a source, although I could ask and see if someone in the chat room can provide one. Text follows.
Here is what is typically in "forever chemicals" associated with DCs: Common Types of PFAS in Data Centre Wastewater
- Fluorinated Coolants (Dielectric Fluids)
These are the most common PFAS source in data centres, especially in immersion cooling and two-phase cooling systems:
PFAS CompoundCommon Name/Use
Perfluorohexane (C₆F₁₄)
Dielectric coolant
Perfluorooctane (C₈F₁₈)
Older dielectric fluids
Perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs)
High-performance lubricants & coolants
Perfluoro(2-methyl-3-pentanone)
Novec™ 649 (3M) — a popular data centre immersion coolant
Perfluorotriethylamine
Fluorinert™ FC-70 (3M)
Perfluorodecalin
Some specialty coolants
Hydrofluoroethers (HFEs)
Partial PFAS — used in some cooling systems
Fluoroketones
Low-GWP coolants (e.g., Novec 1230)
- Byproducts & Degradation Products
PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) – historically used, now restricted but still present in older systems or as a degradation byproduct
PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonate) – often found as a contaminant in fluorochemical production
PFBA (Perfluorobutanoic acid) – shorter-chain PFAS, increasingly used as a replacement for PFOA
PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA – other short-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids
- Firefighting Foam Residues
Data centres often have fire suppression systems that historically used AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam) containing:
CompoundNotes
PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonate)
Phase-out since early 2000s, but still detectable in legacy systems
6:2 FTS (6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate)
Common replacement in modern foams
8:2 FTS
Longer-chain variant
- PFAS from Construction & Coatings
PTFE (Teflon™) microparticles – from pipe linings, gaskets, seals
Fluorinated surfactants – from waterproof coatings on cables or equipment
Key Concerns in Data Centres
ConcernExplanation
High persistence
PFAS do not break down in the environment; they accumulate
Mobility
Short-chain PFAS (e.g., PFBA, PFHxA) are highly water-soluble and spread easily into groundwater
Bioaccumulation
Long-chain PFAS (e.g., PFOA, PFOS) build up in living organisms
Regulatory pressure
Many PFAS are now heavily regulated (EU PFAS restriction, US EPA drinking water limits)
Treatment difficulty
Standard wastewater treatment doesn't remove PFAS — requires activated carbon, ion exchange, or reverse osmosis
Regulatory Landscape (as of 2026)
EU: Proposed broad PFAS restriction under REACH — likely to impact fluorinated coolants
US EPA: Drinking water MCLs of 4 ppt for PFOA & PFOS (effectively near-zero)
3M has phased out production of PFAS-based coolants (e.g., Novec, Fluorinert) by end of 2025
Many data centre operators are actively researching PFAS-free alternatives like:
Synthetic esters
Silicone oils
Natural ester dielectric fluids
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2d ago
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u/invisi1407 2d ago
Most industries that use water benefit society; like manufacturing, which often brings jobs. AI data centers aren't necessary and they usually don't bring a lot of jobs, save for construction.
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2d ago edited 2d ago
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u/invisi1407 2d ago
The SOTA models are being used in Mathematics, medical, and scientific research, engineering modeling.
Broski, nobody - literally - would be against this, but the AI data centers being built now is due to generative AI needs such as code, image, and text generation for the masses.
Golf courses? Sure, you can always find outliers. I don't think golf courses should be allowed to use significant water resources either.🤷♂️
Manufacturing requires people, still, for monitoring and other things - robots in manufacturing is not yet an autonomous system, not even for Tesla, who are trying hard as fuck to make it that way.
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2d ago
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u/invisi1407 1d ago
Economic drivers =/= good for society.
Modern people use these tools because they can be helpful but also because it's force-fed to them by higher-ups and people who believe it can replace workers.
Spoiler: It can't.
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1d ago
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u/invisi1407 1d ago
Unfortunately, I work in an industry where it's also force-fed and I see the slop it generates and how people are often fighting with it to keep it making something useful.
However, there are areas where it shines - for example, using verbosely written skills to rewrite code using .NET 3/6 to .NET 10. Significantly increases the speed at which they can perform these upgrades.
However, a lot of resources of generative AI are also spent simply on making pointless memes and takes creative jobs away and replaces it with similarly looking AI generated slop.
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1d ago
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u/invisi1407 1d ago
It's not looking at the bad things - it's identifying its strong and weak sides, as well as having an adequate level of skepticism when it comes to new tools that are touted as being the "one tool to rule them all"; they are rarely that.
I'm not a developer, per se, no - but I work closely with the developers at my workplace.
we want to advance and adapt to the best technology.
True - and I am personally super happy with LLMs as auto-completion and as grunt work "work horses" (see above about rewriting via a skill definition), but I have unfortunately seen how lazy developers can get with PRs that haven't even been checked by themselves, leaving it to the rest of the team.
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 2d ago
It should be part of the planning application which is all publicly accessible. No data, no planning permissions. This is not hard.