Map: Water Usage of Top 30 AI Data Centers Compared
Pitiful_Factor_3227 · reddit · 2026-07-07
An independent developer built thirstymachines.com using React+D3 to estimate the annual water consumption of 30 major global AI and cloud data centers (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, Apple, Alibaba). The site compares usage on a logarithmic scale against golf courses, fast fashion, and fossil fuel power plants. Data is synthesized from sustainability reports, utility and permitting documents, and cooling tech and climate inferences, using the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 2024 data center energy report as a baseline. The author stresses these are order-of-magnitude estimates rather than audited figures and welcomes more accurate data sources.
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