Balancing Data Centre Growth with Water Responsibility

Date: 30/09/2025  
Read Time: 4 minutes  
Author: Andrew Cox

KEY POINTS: 

• The AI revolution is driving demand for new data centres all around the world. Holding back the growth of data centres is like trying to hold back the tide. 

• Water scarcity means more scrutiny of commercial water usage. 

• There is an opportunity for data centres to be water positive, and we explore the solutions driving this shift. 

We're in the early stages of one of the most significant transformations in human history. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is reshaping industries at lightning speed. Advances in AI, robotics, 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), biotechnology, and quantum computing are transforming the way we work and live. 

At the heart of this transformation are data centres supporting everything from cloud computing and AI to e-commerce, healthcare, and national security. Every Google search, streaming video, and Uber Eats order passes through one or more of these facilities. 

But growth comes with challenges. Data centres consume vast amounts of power and water resources under increasing pressure worldwide. 

The servers within data centres generate huge amounts of heat. Water is often used in cooling towers or evaporative systems to keep equipment within safe operating temperatures. This maximises the life of the physical components and avoids expensive shutdowns. A large data centre can consume millions of litres of water per day. But the evidence suggests this is the exception rather than the rule. A recent study in England found that the average data centre uses less than a typical leisure centre. The report revealed nearly two-thirds (64%) of commercial sites in England consume less than 10,000 cubic meters of water per year.  

Some cooling systems require treated or purified water to prevent scaling, corrosion, or microbial growth in pipes and cooling towers.  

This is where automatic filtration screens, UV treatment and RO systems  are critical to ensure system efficiency and reliability, as well as meeting compliance with Australian standards.  

Many data centres need secure, continuous water supplies (i.e. hospitals and heavy industry). This requires equipment installation in duty/standby configuration due to the critical nature of the facility. This type of system allows for redundancy for maintenance, as well as the unlikely event of a breakdown. In the case of hospitals, the water supply requires no interruption whatsoever to the provision of purified water.  

The rapid growth of data centres has raised community concerns, especially around power and water usage. For example, in Dublin (Ireland), where tax concessions have attracted a host of big tech and pharmaceutical companies, data centres take up 22% of the national grid capacity.  

In Arizona (USA), an ongoing drought has residents concerned about significant water consumption by data centres (especially potable/drinking water).  

In Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, there are challenges to address water scarcity across many regions. Reservoirs and catchments are receiving dwindling inflows as climate and rainfall patterns change. Satellite data shows declining total water storage in major basins like the Murray-Darling.  

• Commercial: reuse from HVAC condensate or cooling tower blowdown 
• Hospitals/healthcare: potential reuse in non-clinical areas (strict compliance needed) 
• Industrial facilities: often reusing process water already 
• Stormwater: retention and reuse from nearby metropolitan catchments 

While water reuse offers significant sustainability benefits, it does require careful planning. Systems must meet water quality standards, prevent biofilm, and comply with regulatory frameworks. There is also an investment in capturing, storing, and treating water, as well as ongoing maintenance to ensure equipment operates reliably. Approached strategically, these measures not only support sustainability goals but also improve operational efficiency and resilience over the long term. 

In Australia, companies are investing heavily in onsite water recycling or rainwater harvesting to reduce their reliance on mains supply. CDC, a Canberra company founded in 2007 during the Millenium Drought have been using fully recycled water systems for years. The technology requires almost no operational water consumption for primary cooling, resulting in a closed-loop cooling system designed to save up to 5 billion litres of water each year. 

There is a push toward air cooling, liquified immersion cooling, and closed-loop water systems to cut consumption. Macquarie Data Centres has implemented liquid immersion cooling technology in some builds. These reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 45%, as well as reducing wastewater.  

Some of the world’s biggest players are taking the lead in water sustainability. 

Microsoft has set a goal to be ‘water positive’ (i.e. using less water than they return to the environment) across its global operations by 2030. Their approach includes reducing water use intensity (using less water for operations per unit output), replenishing more water than they consume, improving access to water and sanitation services in communities where they operate, driving innovation in data centre design, cooling, reuse, recycling and advocating for sound water policy and governance. 

Google has made a similar pledge. They’ve committed to replenish 120% of the freshwater it consumes (on average across its offices and data centres) by 2030. 

We can expect more announcements like this in the near future. 

Make no mistake, sustainable water usage technologies are driving the evolution of the data centre industry. Data centres will most likely be the conduit to identify them.  

At Southland Filtration, we work with hydraulic engineers, data centre proponents, construction companies and facility managers to design filtration, recycling, and treatment systems that make water use more efficient and reliable. Our expertise in healthcare and critical infrastructure means we understand the importance of continuity, compliance, and resilience. 

If you're planning or upgrading a data centre, talk to us about building a water-efficient, future-ready solution.  

 

Other reference  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/09/big-tech-datacentres-water