Amazon says its data centers pulled just 2.5 billion gallons of water worldwide last year. The figure arrived Thursday in a blog post from the company, marking the first time it has released a full annual total. At sites it owns and operates directly, consumption dropped 2% from 2024 levels even as the footprint grew. The timing feels pointed. Two days earlier, Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously to freeze new large data centers for a year.
The moratorium targets facilities drawing more than 20 megawatts. Officials want studies on power demand, water use, utility rates and public health before any more are built. “Large AI data centers are popping up across the country, driving up utility costs for residents and small businesses while creating air, water, and noise pollution,” said Councilmember Tammy Morales in the Seattle City Council announcement.
But Amazon pushes back with numbers. Its global operations achieved 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour in 2025. That rate sits seven times better than the industry average of 0.84 liters per kilowatt-hour, according to the company’s analysis of a peer-reviewed paper. Efficiency has climbed 52% since 2021. Mostly air cooling. Water enters the picture only on the hottest days.
The claim rests on direct evaporative cooling designs that Amazon favors in many climates. These systems use far less water than traditional setups at peak. The company also taps recycled wastewater at dozens of facilities and plans to expand that sharply. Twenty-four sites already run on treated sewage. By 2030 Amazon aims to quadruple such deployments.
Progress toward a bigger promise looks solid too. AWS stood at 75% of its water-positive goal at the end of 2025, up from 53% a year earlier. The 2030 target means returning more water to communities and nature than data centers consume. Over 50 replenishment projects are expected to deliver more than 5.8 billion gallons annually. That would cover the gap and then some.
Yet absolute volumes still raise eyebrows. North American data centers alone consumed nearly 1 trillion liters in 2025, per market research cited by Reuters. A single large facility can evaporate millions of gallons daily during summer peaks. AI training clusters intensify the load. Each complex query can carry a hidden water cost through the cooling systems that keep servers from melting.
Investors have taken notice. Shareholder groups pressed Amazon, Microsoft and Google earlier this year for granular, site-by-site disclosures. They argue location-specific data reveals real risks to local supplies. Amazon has begun sharing more such figures where it operates, said Josh Weissman, director of infrastructure capacity delivery. “We are committed to being a good neighbor,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters, citing efficiency investments and new power sources.
Comparisons to peers prove tricky. Microsoft reported total water use but not always broken down by site in its latest sustainability filing. Google and Meta show varying levels of transparency. Amazon’s per-kilowatt-hour metric highlights its operational edge. A graphic in its report positions the company ahead of those rivals on efficiency trends over recent years. But critics note that indirect water use for electricity generation often dwarfs direct cooling. Power plants can triple the footprint.
Seattle’s move reflects broader tension. The city sits in Amazon’s backyard. Five proposed data centers could have consumed up to a third of current electricity demand, according to earlier reporting that spurred the council. Residents flooded officials with nearly 100,000 emails. Tech workers, including members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, joined the call for a pause. The resolution directs city departments to examine impacts on the grid, water supplies and local jobs. An optional six-month extension looms if studies drag.
Similar backlash spreads nationwide. The Guardian reported this week that most new U.S. AI data centers are headed for drought-prone counties. By 2028 annual water demand could hit 73 billion gallons, up from 17 billion in 2023. Facilities the size of small towns now dot arid landscapes in Arizona, Utah and Texas, drawn by cheap land, tax breaks and lower corrosion risk. One Utah project twice the size of Manhattan won approval last month in a county under long-term drought.
Amazon’s Indiana megaproject near New Carlisle illustrates the stakes. The $11 billion campus will eventually draw 2.2 gigawatts, enough electricity for a million homes, plus millions of gallons of water yearly. Local concerns focus on aquifers and farmland conversion. The company counters that it funds infrastructure upgrades and invests in community water projects.
UN researchers warned in early June that AI could double data center power and water consumption by 2030. Their analysis pegged current AI-related water use at 4.5 trillion liters globally, enough to meet basic needs for more than 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Carbon emissions tied to these operations reached 189 million tons last year.
Tech giants respond with innovation. Microsoft pilots closed-loop systems that circulate water without evaporation, targeting zero-water cooling in Arizona and Wisconsin facilities opening next year. Amazon emphasizes free-air cooling for 90% or more of the year in many locations. Both firms tout water-positive commitments. Yet internal Microsoft forecasts obtained by The New York Times show the company expects its data center water needs to more than double by 2030 from 2020 levels, even after efficiency gains.
The industry finds itself caught between explosive demand for compute and finite local resources. Data centers already strain grids and water systems in Loudoun County, Virginia, and The Dalles, Oregon, where Google facilities consume a huge share of municipal supply. Proposals to draw from the Cape Fear River in North Carolina or expand reservoirs near Mount Hood spark fresh fights.
Amazon’s disclosure arrives as pressure builds for standardized reporting. The EPA encourages greater reuse of treated water for cooling. Some states mull full-cost pricing for power and water infrastructure tied to these projects. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed regulators this week to make data centers cover their own grid upgrades and consider water-efficient mandates.
So the debate sharpens. Efficiency metrics matter. Amazon’s 0.12 L/kWh stands out. Its 52% improvement since 2021 demonstrates real engineering progress. Replenishment projects return water to stressed basins. Recycled sources shield drinking supplies. But 2.5 billion gallons still equals the annual water use of a midsize city. Scale that across hyperscalers chasing AI growth and the sums grow daunting.
Seattle’s one-year timeout buys time for analysis. Other cities watch closely. Monterey Park, California, became the first to ban data centers outright via voter measure last week. New York weighs a statewide pause. The choices ahead will shape where the next wave of AI infrastructure lands and who bears the costs in power bills, water rates and environmental strain.
Amazon insists it can thread the needle. Its latest results show consumption falling even as capacity rises. That trend, if sustained, could ease some fears. But local officials and residents demand proof that growth won’t come at the expense of their utilities and rivers. The data centers keep humming. The questions around them only grow louder.