By Matt Day and Michelle Ma, Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc. said its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water worldwide last year, or about 5% of the amount metro Seattle consumes annually.
The world’s largest cloud-computing company said the disclosure shows that it cools server farms more efficiently than some of its large tech industry peers.
Amazon’s announcement arrives amid a politically charged debate over how much water and electricity data centers use. Some states and cities – including Amazon’s home base Seattle – have considered or implemented moratoriums on construction of new server farms, in part to allow for further study.
Water researchers and community advocates say the only way to understand data center water usage is if Amazon and its peers share more granular data. Gradually, more information about water consumption is coming out.
After a protracted legal battle in Oregon, the city of The Dalles agreed to release records showing how much municipal…
