Short answer: A data center’s resource demands depend on its computing load, cooling design, climate, operating schedule and power arrangements. Electricity runs servers and the systems that keep them reliable; water is used mainly for heat rejection in some cooling systems, while electricity generation can create additional, off-site water demand. There is no defensible universal figure for a proposed facility. Communities need the project’s annual and peak electricity load, water withdrawals and consumption, source, cooling design, wastewater plans, grid upgrades and cost-allocation terms.
What a data center actually consumes
A data center is an industrial-scale building filled with servers, storage, networking equipment and power systems. The servers turn electricity into computing work and heat. Supporting equipment—uninterruptible power supplies, transformers, switchgear, pumps, fans, chillers, lighting and controls—also consumes electricity. Some facilities include on-site generators or other backup systems.
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The total electric requirement therefore has two parts: the information-technology load and the overhead needed to deliver reliable power and remove heat. A small installation with lightly used servers can have a very different profile from a large, continuously operated campus. Build-out timing matters too: a site designed for several buildings may request its full future capacity before all of that capacity is operating.
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PUE measures overhead, not total size
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is the ratio of total facility power to power used by IT equipment. A lower PUE indicates less overhead for a given IT load. PUE does not reveal how large the IT load is, how many hours the facility operates, how much water it uses or what effects its electricity supply has on the wider grid. Two facilities can have the same PUE but radically different total demand.
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- Short press the button to change the mode: Flow Mode: real-time water flow rate; Consumption Mode: last-time water usage; Average Mode: daily average water usage of a week (count from next day); Total Mode: total water usage.
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How electricity moves through the facility and the grid
Inside the building
Incoming utility power is transformed and distributed through redundant electrical paths. Power-conditioning equipment keeps voltage and frequency within operating limits. Battery systems and generators are normally intended for outages or testing, not routine energy supply, although the project’s permits and operating plan determine how they may be used.
Cooling and ventilation add to the load. Fans move air through server rooms; pumps circulate chilled water or other fluids; chillers and heat-rejection equipment remove heat. The amount of electricity needed for these systems changes with outdoor temperature, humidity, server utilization and control settings.
At the utility connection
Data centers generally seek large, continuous supplies. The U.S. Department of Energy says demand is growing rapidly, varies by region and can require generation, storage, efficiency measures, flexible operations and grid expansion. The relevant question for a community is not simply the facility’s nameplate capacity, but its requested service capacity, expected annual consumption and coincident peak demand.
A utility may need a new substation, transmission line, distribution circuit, protection equipment or generation resource. Whether those facilities are built, how quickly they are needed and who pays depend on the interconnection process, tariff, service agreement and regulatory decisions. A project’s approval does not by itself prove that household rates will increase.
Where water enters the picture
Evaporative cooling towers
Cooling towers reject heat by allowing some water to evaporate. The evaporated water must be replaced. As water cycles through the tower, minerals become concentrated; a controlled discharge called blowdown removes part of that concentrated water. Fresh make-up water and blowdown volumes depend on tower design, cycles of concentration, weather and operating load.
Air-cooled and closed-loop systems
Air-based heat rejection can reduce direct water use but may require more electricity, especially during hot weather. Chilled-water systems circulate water in a closed loop, while separate equipment rejects the heat. A label such as “closed loop” does not mean the entire facility has no water requirement: initial filling, maintenance, humidification, cooling-tower sections or emergency systems may still require water.
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- Short press the button to change the mode from FLOW / CONSUMPTION / AVERAGE / TOTAL. Flow Mode: real-time water flow rate | Consumption Mode: last-time water usage | Average Mode: daily average water usage of a week (count from next day) | Total Mode: total water usage.
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Water sources and wastewater
Cooling water may come from a municipal potable system, reclaimed or other non-potable supply, an on-site source or a colocated resource. Blowdown and other wastewater may require treatment before discharge. Permits, sewer capacity, pretreatment rules and discharge limits determine what is allowed. Communities should request the source, quality classification, peak-day withdrawal, annual consumption, discharge volume and treatment method rather than relying on a generic “data center water use” estimate.
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy states that water use varies widely with data-center size and cooling technology, and that almost all data centers require some water access for cooling. Its guidance notes that use can reach millions of gallons per day in broad cases, while advanced technologies can substantially reduce water needs. Those statements describe a range, not a forecast for a particular project.
Climate, server density, utilization, redundancy, maintenance practices and drought rules all change the result. A facility’s average day can conceal a much higher summer or peak day. “Withdrawal” is the amount taken from a source; “consumption” is the portion not returned promptly to that source, often because it evaporates. Both figures matter for water planning.
| Figure or finding | What it means | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| About 2,600 households | The Congressional Research Service, summarizing an International Energy Agency estimate, says direct water consumption for a 100-megawatt U.S. data center is roughly equivalent to that of 2,600 households when averaged across cooling strategies. | Published by CRS in 2025; an illustrative estimate with assumptions, not a benchmark for every 100-MW site. |
| 196 companies | EIA identified this many companies operating data centers in Texas, Washington state and Northern Virginia/DC for voluntary regional pilot studies. | EIA announcement dated March 25, 2026; the count covers the pilot regions and is not a national inventory. |
| 50 buildings | EIA’s 2018 pilot examined 50 data-center buildings. | EIA says a high-quality sampling frame and industry cooperation would be needed for statistically valid estimates of data centers as a separate building type. |
Direct site water versus water used to make electricity
A facility’s water meter captures direct site use. It does not automatically include water consumed at power plants that generate the facility’s electricity. Generation technology, fuel mix, cooling systems at those plants and the location of the marginal power resource determine that indirect impact.
The reverse trade-off also matters. A design that minimizes on-site water may use more electricity for fans or mechanical cooling. A water-intensive design may reduce cooling electricity under some conditions. The useful comparison is therefore a complete one: annual and peak electricity, direct withdrawals and consumption, the source and quality of water, and the power system that serves the site.
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Questions to ask before a project is approved
Use written questions and request the assumptions behind every number. Ask for the same units and time periods across alternatives so that an average-day claim is not compared with a peak-day claim.
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Electricity demand and operating assumptions
- What are projected annual electricity consumption and maximum demand during normal operation?
- What utilization, server density, weather, redundancy, commissioning and build-out assumptions produce those figures?
- What capacity is being requested now, and how much is reserved for later phases?
- How much power is expected for IT equipment, cooling, power conditioning and other overhead?
Interconnection, reliability and cost
- Where will power come from, and what generation, transmission, substation or distribution upgrades are required?
- Which upgrades are needed solely for this project, and which serve broader system growth?
- Who pays for each upgrade under the applicable tariff, interconnection agreement or special contract?
- How will the utility recover costs if the facility delays, downsizes or does not reach its planned load?
- What are the reliability requirements, emergency-generation limits and procedures for reducing load during a grid emergency?
Cooling and water
- What cooling architecture is proposed, including towers, chillers, air-cooled equipment, closed loops and backup systems?
- What are expected water withdrawals and consumption on an average day, peak day, hottest design day and drought-restricted day?
- Is the supply potable, reclaimed or another non-potable source? What treatment is required?
- How much water is discharged as blowdown or other wastewater, and what permits, treatment and sewer capacity apply?
- What changes are planned if the water provider imposes conservation stages or a source becomes unavailable?
Measurement and enforceability
- Which meters will separately measure facility water withdrawals, discharge, IT electricity and total facility electricity?
- Will the owner publish monthly actual use, including average and peak values, after opening?
- Are water-efficiency, load-management and reporting commitments enforceable through a permit, service agreement or other public document?
- Who verifies the data, and what happens if actual use exceeds the approved projection?
How to compare two sites or designs
If a community is evaluating alternatives, require identical assumptions for weather, operating hours, utilization, build-out and accounting boundaries. A useful comparison has at least these dimensions:
| Comparison | What to request |
|---|---|
| Electricity | Annual consumption, normal peak demand, requested service capacity and phased-load schedule. |
| Cooling | Technology, controls, climate sensitivity, backup configuration and electricity used by cooling. |
| Water | Annual and peak withdrawals, consumption, source, potable status, reuse and drought assumptions. |
| Wastewater | Blowdown and other discharge volumes, treatment, sewer capacity and permits. |
| Grid connection | Substation, transmission and distribution work, timing, reliability needs and alternatives. |
| Cost allocation | Amounts assigned to the facility, utility and other customers under governing agreements. |
| Transparency | Metering, public reporting schedule, data definitions and enforcement provisions. |
Keep direct site water and power-generation water separate when the available data permit. Combining them into one unexplained number can hide important trade-offs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What national data can—and cannot—tell you
The Energy Information Administration does not report standalone data centers as their own Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey category; they are grouped within “Other.” EIA also says the 2018 CBECS did not collect water-consumption data because response rates and authority or funding constraints limited publication.
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On March 25, 2026, EIA announced voluntary pilot surveys in Texas, Washington and Northern Virginia/DC. The pilots cover energy sources, electricity use, site characteristics, server metrics and cooling systems, and involve 196 identified operating companies across those regions. They are useful for improving future data collection but do not constitute a complete public inventory or provide a substitute for a project’s permits, utility filings and service agreements.
As EIA Administrator Tristan Abbey explained in the announcement, “A tremendous amount of excellent work goes into our retrospective consumption surveys, but they were conceived decades ago. Going forward, that excellent work will be geared toward faster cycles and finer detail.” Until those efforts produce comparable datasets, local records remain the best evidence for a proposed facility.
How to interpret the answers you receive
If a developer gives only a capacity number
Ask whether it is IT capacity, total facility capacity or the utility’s requested service capacity. Request annual energy, normal peak demand and the phased schedule. Capacity alone cannot tell you how much electricity will be consumed or when.
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If a developer gives only an average water figure
Request peak-day and drought-condition values, and ask whether the figure is withdrawal or consumption. Confirm whether it includes blowdown, humidification, testing and backup equipment.
If a utility says upgrades are “needed”
Ask for the specific facilities, estimated cost, construction schedule, ownership and cost-allocation rule. The same project may require different work depending on its final load, location and connection voltage.
If an official cites a national estimate
Treat it as context, not a site forecast. Compare it with the project’s engineering assumptions, permits and metered reporting plan. A credible proposal should explain how its numbers were calculated and how they will be checked after operation begins.
Will a data center affect local water supplies or utility bills?
It may, but the answer is project-specific. Water effects depend on the source’s available capacity, seasonal conditions, competing demand, cooling design and conservation requirements. Electricity effects depend on the interconnection, regional capacity, rate design, contracts and regulatory treatment. Neither a shortage nor a rate increase should be asserted without evidence from the water provider, electric utility and governing approvals.
Residents and officials can make the uncertainty manageable by requiring transparent assumptions before approval and actual monthly reporting afterward. That record allows the community to compare promises with operations and to respond if demand, drought exposure or grid conditions change.
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