Google’s water consumption has soared in recent years, with the company using 5.6 billion gallons of water in 2022. This is a 20% increase from the previous year, and the majority of the water was used for the company’s data centers.
The increase in water consumption is largely due to the growth of Google’s compute capacity, which has been driven by artificial intelligence (AI). AI requires a lot of energy to run, and this energy is often used to cool data centers.
Google has said that it is committed to reducing its water consumption, and it has set a goal of replenishing 120% of the freshwater it consumes by 2030. However, some experts are skeptical that this goal is achievable, given the growth of AI and the increasing demand for data storage.
The rising water consumption of data centers is a growing concern, as it puts a strain on local water resources. In some cases, data centers have been accused of exacerbating water shortages. And Google is not the only tech company that is facing scrutiny over its water consumption. Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are also among the tech giants that use a significant amount of water.
The sources for this piece include an article in BusinessInsider.