WATER POSITIVITY
For years, the data centre industry relied on a standard triad for site selection: cheap power, robust fibre and available land. Today, the explosive growth of high-density compute has introduced a fourth pillar to the location strategy of every major operator: water.
Water availability has evolved into more than just an environmental, social and governance( ESG) talking point – it is now a critical operational bottleneck. Welcome to the era of water-smart siting.
Water-smart siting requires developers to evaluate municipal water capacities, local watershed health and long-term climate projections alongside standard feasibility studies.
The viability of a new campus heavily depends on whether the surrounding environment can sustain the facility’ s thermal management requirements without compromising existing community or agricultural needs.
As digital infrastructure spreads across the globe to support the AI boom, the industry is transitioning from purely power-driven location strategies to holistic ecological assessments – with water front-of-mind.
870 %
the increase in water used for data centre cooling
( Brookings Institution)