Communities in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are protesting the rapid growth of data centers, citing concerns over water use, energy demand, and pollution. Many facilities rely on evaporative cooling—similar to human sweating—to manage heat from processors that can reach 176°F internally.
However, the actual scale of AI-related water consumption is unclear, with claims ranging from 500 milliliters per chatbot query to assertions that the issue is negligible. Adding to the confusion, tech companies’ own water-use data remains inconsistent and incomplete.
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