Author: Faiz Shakir Published: 8/16/2026 More Perfect Union
Ronald,
Data centers are using up millions of gallons of water each day, and local leaders are rolling out the welcome mat for them.
More Perfect Union recently traveled to El Paso, Texas and southern New Mexico to speak with farmers and community members where Meta, Oracle, and OpenAI are building massive data centers.
We asked the question: How much water does the AI boom actually need?
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If they consume the amount of water that people are saying they’re going to consume, what are we going to eat? Because agriculture’s goanna ceases to exist.” –Roberto Roque, Pecan Farmer
In fact, according to our research and the experts we spoke with, the water crisis in communities around data centers is much worse than Big Tech is letting on. That’s because when a Big Tech company like Google tells us that they’re using roughly 550 million gallons of water a year for their data center in Dalles, Oregon — which is already close to 30-40% of Dalles’ entire municipal water consumption — that’s not the whole story.
The water being consumed by AI data centers must also account for the water used to generate the power that the data centers use. That amount of water is 10 times higher than the water that’s consumed inside the data centers themselves.
The numbers are shocking. And because data center water use numbers are considered a trade secret, it’s unclear if local leaders making the decisions are even aware of the real numbers.
Meanwhile, utility providers continue to raise rates on residents. In El Paso, Texas alone, residents have seen their water rates increase for 11 straight years with this year’s increase equaling 12%.
In solidarity,
Faiz Shakir
More Perfect Union
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