Thirsty Data Centers Are Making Hot Summers Even Scarier
With drought spreading around the globe, battles over water are erupting between AI companies seeking more computing power and communities where their facilities are located.
The proposed site of a Meta Platforms Inc. data center in Talavera de la Reina, Spain.
Photographer: Paul Hanna/Bloomberg
For more than a year, Spain has been struggling with drought that has sent water levels in dams below historical averages, prompting local officials to tell residents not to water their gardens and to turn off taps at night to guarantee supply during the day. The situation is particularly hard for farmers. The central region of Castilla La Mancha, which produces a quarter of all Spanish grain, is expected to lose 80% to 90% of this year’s harvest, and water restrictions loom large.
Yet in Talavera de la Reina, a small city tucked among the region’s yellowing barley and wheat fields, Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to build a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) data center. Meta expects the facility to use about 665 million liters (176 million gallons) of water a year, and up to 195 liters per second during “peak water flow,” according to a technical report. Enthusiasm about the jobs the project is expected to create (1,000 in total, about 250 of which will be permanent) is now being weighed against heightened concerns over water.