New Ceres study links data center water use to power plant stress
Seven states that host roughly half of U.S. data centers relied on water-using power plants for 78 percent of their electricity generation in 2024. Those states are Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, and Arizona. Ceres research shows that 66 percent of the water-using plants in the group operate in areas classified as medium-high to extremely high water stress. The study links the electricity supplied to data centers across these states with approximately 3.4 trillion gallons of annual freshwater dependence.
Ceres associates data center power supply in the seven states with about 3.4 trillion gallons of annual freshwater dependence measured as withdrawals, a volume that includes water returned to its source and therefore does not equal consumption. Berkeley Lab attributes nearly 800 billion liters, or 211 billion gallons, of indirect water consumption to U.S. data center electricity in 2023. Federal figures record the same distinction at the national level: thermoelectric plants withdrew 59.9 billion gallons per day while consuming 2.36 billion gallons per day in 2020 across the contiguous United States.
U.S. data centers consumed 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023 according to Berkeley Lab. The laboratory projects that data centers could reach 11.8 percent of national electricity demand by 2030 under a central scenario, with the full range spanning 9.5 percent to 15.3 percent. These projections concern electricity demand and do not constitute water-use forecasts.
Power-sector cooling-water withdrawal intensity declined 20.6 percent between 2015 and 2020, falling from 14,928 gallons per megawatt-hour to 11,857 gallons per megawatt-hour, Energy Information Administration data show. Local conditions continue to drive variability, with workload-level water use capable of differing by more than 10,000-fold depending on operating conditions.
A separate Ceres analysis models an approximately 400 percent rise in electricity-related data center water use in the Phoenix region if planned development occurs, moving from 2.9 billion gallons to more than 14.5 billion gallons annually. Under the modeled scenarios, water stress in already strained basins could increase by as much as 17 percent.
Houston Advanced Research Center estimates place Texas data center consumption at about 25 billion gallons in 2025. By 2030 the projected annual range extends from 29 billion gallons to 161 billion gallons across scenarios, with the upper bound more than six times the 2025 estimate. These figures represent modeled outcomes rather than observed consumption.
The Ceres findings direct attention upstream to power plant sourcing when communities assess new data center projects. A facility may use little water on site yet depend on generation located in water-stressed regions. The research indicates that incorporating electricity origin into regulatory reviews and public questions can clarify resource implications beyond a project’s direct water connection.
Water availability affects electricity reliability at plants that require sufficient volumes for cooling or operation. The findings point to a potential gap in infrastructure planning as AI-driven electricity demand grows. Utilities, regulators, and communities may find it increasingly useful to examine power sourcing together with local water conditions when evaluating future capacity needs.
