Most of the time, the issue most often highlighted regarding data centers is their electricity consumption. However, the water needs for cooling are also a major concern. Yet, an independent Norwegian firm specializing in energy research and market intelligence believes in a future where data centers will consume little or no water.
A water consumption of up to 19 million liters per day
When people talk about data centers, energy usage is usually the main focus, particularly for installations dedicated to artificial intelligence compute. It must be noted that servers dedicated to AI calculation chips have an energy density 7 to 8 times higher than traditional data centers.
Nevertheless, another significant area of consumption frequently overlooked is water. Indeed, data centers require substantial amounts of water to dissipate the heat produced by the servers—the cooling is achieved through evaporation. The largest data centers can consume up to 19 million liters of water per day, equivalent to the water demand of a town of about 50,000 inhabitants. The catch is that 70 to 80% of this water evaporates into the atmosphere and is not locally recycled.
As the prospective construction of giant data centers crystallizes tensions, the independent Norwegian energy research and market intelligence firm Rystad Energy weighed in on the issue in a press release published on September 8, 2026. For researchers, the future water consumption depends on a complex technological and geographical trade-off rather than a miracle solution.
Liquid cooling directly on the chips
In practice, the current air-cooled cooling towers are regarded as energy-efficient. However, they place a heavy burden on water resources. According to Rystad Energy, the transition to water-light data centers is achievable through the adoption of mitigation technologies, such as liquid cooling.
« Although AI servers generate much more heat, the rise of AI does not necessarily imply a proportional increase in water consumption, because liquid cooling at the rack level can reduce the thermal load on the on-site systems and enable greater use of dry cooling.», can be read in the press release.
The firm stresses urgency. According to its worst-case scenario, the direct water consumption of data centers worldwide would nearly triple by 2030, reaching 644 billion liters per year versus 222 billion liters in 2025. The more favorable scenario, at 388 billion liters per year by 2030, would involve deploying liquid cooling directly on the chips, such as on Nvidia Vera Rubin-type platforms (see below). This approach would therefore allow dry cooling, without evaporation.
Rising electricity consumption and “hidden water”
However, such a transition cannot happen without concessions. Indeed, removing the evaporation of water requires the use of gigantic fans to cool the fluids. In other words, the dry cooling system mentioned by Rystad Energy saves around 2.15 liters of water per kWh of computing load but consumes 0.30 to 0.74 kWh of electricity per kWh.
This famous transition also raises the question of “hidden water,” primarily the water necessary for power plants to produce this additional electricity. And this consumption could soar, as in the United States, hidden water already accounts for more than double the direct consumption of data centers.
In short, Rystad Energy does not simply believe that data centers will use little or no water. The firm demonstrates that reducing on-site water use shifts part of the problem onto the power grid. Thus, such a transition calls for decarbonization and enhanced energy efficiency upstream.
