LA Wildfires Raise Burning Questions About AI’s Data Center Water DrainLA Wildfires Raise Burning Questions About AI’s Data Center Water Drain

Apocalyptic scenes from greater Los Angeles, California’s continuing wildfire devastation raise serious questions about IT’s growing need for a resource in short supply: water. The explosion of power-hungry AI models is a growing strain on water resources, even as the industry makes strides in mitigation efforts.

Many factors – from water shortages due to an ongoing drought to infrastructure restraints – led to a shortage of water and water pressure in fire hydrants throughout Los Angeles County. The shortages fueled partisan finger-pointing over blame. Water is increasingly becoming a major stress point for governments as IT needs increase.

Three Democratic California lawmakers introduced four separate bills last week aimed at slowing AI and data center water consumption. One of the bills’ authors, Assemblymember Dian Papan, told Politico, “Water’s a limited resource. I’m trying to make it so we are prepared and ahead of the curve as we pursue new technology.”

Providing a snapshot of increasing data center water use needs, the US Department of Energy’s report on the country’s data center energy use pegs total 2023 water use at 66 billion liters, up from 21.2 billion liters in 2014. And that’s just for direct consumption to cool data centers themselves – water needed to cool power plants supplying electricity to data centers, also adds to the total.

Related:DOE: ‘Portfolio Approach’ Key to Solving the Data Center Energy Puzzle

But transparency on water use is an issue. About 50% of organizations do not collect water usage data for data center operations, according to Statista.

Data Center Map counts 286 data centers in California, including 69 in Los Angeles.

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