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Google used more than four billion liters of water in its data centers around the world in 2021, with 3.3 billion in the US and 971 million in the rest of the world, new figures show.
The figures came to light after a report in the media The Oregonian challenged the city of The Dalles, Oregon to reveal how much water a Google data center in the region consumed.
The legal dispute lasted 13 months as the city of The Dalles attempted to prevent the release of Google’s consumption data. However, the city eventually relented, revealing that the tech giant used 274.5 million gallons of water in 2021 alone.
Opening the floodgates
The city also promised to make such data available in the future.
The Oregonian too reported (opens in new tab) that the facilities had nearly tripled their water usage within five years, claiming they now use more than a quarter of all the city’s water. Moreover, this only seems to increase, as Google has plans to build two more data centers in The Dalles.
Google claims that this water consumption is comparable to that of 29 golf courses in the US. It also claimed that these figures do not include the seawater it uses.
The problem of data center water consumption is widespread and colocation providers are working on improvements as regulations on such consumption take effect in several regions.
A report from the IT consultancy Uptime Institute (opens in new tab) found that currently only half of data center operators report their water usage. It also recommended simple solutions to meet future sustainability criteria, such as covering empty server racks to improve airflow and upgrading older cooling systems still in use.