A truck speeds past Amazon’s planned data center in Ridgeland, Mississippi, on April 9, 2026. Amazon’s private agreement with the city of Ridgeland stipulates that wastewater released by its data center will be sent to neighboring Jackson, Mississippi, for treatment and discharge. Experts fear that an influx of wastewater from the facility could overburden Jackson’s historically fragile sewer system. (Rogelio Solis/Mississippi Free Press)
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Perhaps the biggest unanswered question about data centers is how much water they’ll need.
There’s no doubt that they need immense amounts of electricity — often cast in comparison to the needs of a city. The amount of land that data centers require is also understood to be enormous — with comparisons to city neighborhoods also frequent.
But the amount of water that they’ll use? That question is tough to answer. Since data centers’ main need for water is to keep equipment cool, usage depends on local climate and weather conditions, which are always in flux. Demand for water will drop when temperatures are cool. And the system that operators choose also matters. One that recirculates water is going to use less water than one that constantly draws from an outside source.
Plus, what it means to “use” water is a little squishy. Is water “used” when it passes through a system? Or does it become “used” only once contaminants enter the stream? If that’s the case, how much contamination is enough to consider the water “used”? And do we consider water that comes from a nonpotable source to be “used”? Or do we care only about water that could go to other customers?
Regardless of your viewpoint, data center developers and operators have not made it easy for you to arrive at answers to these questions. Most tech companies say their plan for water consumption is a trade secret, and they have worked hard to shield that information from the public. Even experts in the field must make estimates based on what little companies have shared.
Which is what makes a recent Desk story particularly remarkable. Illan Ireland of the Mississippi Free Press obtained the water agreement between Amazon and the water utility in Ridgeland, a Jackson suburb. The 45-page agreement spells out how Amazon plans to keep its facilities cool during Mississippi’s hot, muggy summers and what will happen to that water as it enters and leaves the facility. It also lays out what Amazon is required to spend to hook into Ridgeland’s water system.
Also important is what the agreement does not include. It does not set an absolute cap on how much water Amazon can use. The company estimates 93 million gallons a year, but its daily maximum set by the agreement, 3.67 million gallons, means it could exceed that estimate in just a few weeks. The agreement also does not call for Amazon to make upgrades to the sewage system, nor does it require Amazon to pay for upkeep to Ridgeland’s expanded water system were the data center to close.
This is just one agreement, between one town and one company. But it raises some questions that every community should consider as they evaluate data center proposals. More than three-quarters of the members of the Mississippi River Cities and Town Initiative say they have been approached to host some form of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
We at the Desk have been working to identify these kinds of questions and to find answers. Over the summer, we published a four-part series reported and written by students at the Missouri School of Journalism and edited by the Desk’s executive director, Sara Shipley Hiles, that addressed the debate over data centers. That series included a toolkit from more than 50 experts that lays out how communities can prepare for and respond to data center proposals. We have also reported on calls to reduce light pollution from data centers and the middlemen who broker data center deals.
You can check out all of our data centers coverage on our website. We promise to keep adding to it and continuing to find answers to your questions.
Rose LaForest
Elise Plunk
Héctor Alejandro Arzate
