Here's how #datacenters are worsening the #watercrisis
The short version: Business Insider spotlights how data centers guzzle millions of gallons of water daily for cooling, straining local supplies while communities bear the cost.
Our Take
Credit to Business Insider for putting a national spotlight on something we've been flagging community by community: the water math behind the AI boom rarely gets explained to the people footing the bill. Cooling a single hyperscale campus can consume millions of gallons a day, often drawn from the same municipal systems and aquifers that supply drinking water to nearby homes and farms — and in drought-prone regions, that math gets uglier fast.
What videos like this can't always show is the local paper trail: the water-use permits, the closed-door utility agreements, and the tax abatements that let these facilities break ground before residents even know a project is coming. That's the layer where accountability actually lives — in county commission minutes and water board filings, not just corporate sustainability pledges.
If this clip makes you wonder what's being built near you, check our facility map to see the buildout in your backyard, and visit our take-action page for tools to push for transparency before the next deal is signed.
This is GridWatch the USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Business Insider, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.