data-center cooling and its electricity supply draw freshwater from basins that are already stressed
#00207
Evaporative cooling consumes 1 to 9 litres per kWh on site, and the electricity behind it carries roughly ten times more embedded water. National totals look trivial while single cities reach 40% of municipal use, so the harm is basin-scale and invisible in aggregate.
#00219Make reclaimed or non-potable water the default permitted supply for cooling
Condition data-centre cooling permits on treated municipal effluent, brackish groundwater, or industrial process water by default, with potable connection allowed only by explicit exception. Microsoft's San Antonio site reports 79% of consumption from recycled or non-potable sour
#00218Build closed-loop cooling with no evaporative make-up, and publish the energy penalty it costs
Fill the cooling loop once and reject heat mechanically instead of by evaporation, eliminating ongoing water draw. Microsoft claims this avoids over 125 million litres per facility per year. The trade is electricity, and no operator has published the PUE penalty.