Google published a set of five water-related commitments for its data centers in June 2026, pledging to return more water to local communities than its facilities consume by 2030. The announcement came in a blog post authored by the company’s vice president of global infrastructure, Bikash Koley, and was accompanied by a $17 million investment to support water stewardship projects across seven states.
The commitments include investing in local water infrastructure, identifying alternative water sources such as reclaimed wastewater — a practice already in use in one Georgia county — and publishing annual reports on the company’s water consumption. Google’s global head of infrastructure and sustainability, Ben Townsend, said the goal is to provide a public blueprint that communities can use to hold any data center developer accountable.
The announcement follows growing public resistance to the rapid expansion of AI data centers across the United States. A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70 percent of Americans oppose having a data center built in their area, with half citing concerns about environmental resources. Eighteen percent specifically named excess water use as a concern. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has said it plans to raise $80 billion from stock sales to fund its AI infrastructure buildout.
AI data centers require large volumes of water for cooling. A recent study found that the technology consumes as much water annually as people drink from water bottles worldwide. Some researchers have also argued that Google’s prior water-use estimates were misleading because they excluded indirect usage. Townsend disputed that characterization, saying the company accounts for its offsite water footprint and has reduced it through investments in waterless renewable energy.
Koley noted in the blog post that water cooling can reduce data center energy use by approximately 10 percent compared to air cooling, and that U.S. data centers collectively use less than one percent of the water Americans use on lawns each year. Townsend acknowledged that community concerns are legitimate but said the sector uses less water than many people assume, and that now is the time to invest before data center water use “becomes a problem.”
Source: The Verge