That's a lot of water.

THE DATA-CENTRE WATER FOOTPRINT

Wait.
That much?

The world's data centres have a water footprint. Let's make the scale visible.

560 billionlitres per year

2023 estimate · all data centres worldwide

ONE FOOTPRINT. A VERY BIG VOLUME.
Annual water volume compared with the 2030 projection The illustrated tank fills in proportion to annual water consumption, up to the IEA's 1.2 trillion litre 2030 Base Case projection. It is a scale diagram, not a real reservoir. 2030 0 560B LITRES / YEAR
47% of the projected 2030 volume Illustrative tank · linear volume scale

MAKE THE NUMBER MAKE SENSE

Big numbers.
Human scale.

2023 · estimate2030 · projection

IEA 2023 estimate. Intermediate years use illustrative linear interpolation, not annual IEA forecasts.

560 billion

one-litre bottles, every year.

People-equivalents use an illustrative 2 litres a day for a year. This compares volume only; it does not imply the water was drinkable or available to supply people.

THE IMPORTANT PART

The scale needs context.

01

More than AI.

These totals cover all data centres, including AI and other computing. They are not an AI-only measurement.

02

More than cooling.

The footprint includes cooling, energy supply and chip manufacturing.

03

Location matters.

Consumption means water not returned to its original source after use, for example through evaporation. It is not water disappearing from Earth.

The numbers, with the receipts.

The IEA's Energy and AI (2025), pages 242–244, estimates 560 billion litres of global data-centre water consumption in 2023 and projects around 1.2 trillion litres in 2030 under its Base Case. That is approximately 2.14 times the 2023 volume.

Intermediate years are a straight-line illustration between those endpoints. No 2040 or 2050 water forecast is presented. People-equivalents divide litres by 730 (2 × 365); this is a volume benchmark, not hydration advice or a claim about drinking-water supply.

  1. IEA · Energy and AI (2025), Box 5.4 and Figure 5.27 ↗
  2. USGS · Water withdrawals and consumptive use ↗

Source reviewed: 13 October 2026. Published projections are scenarios, not guarantees.

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