The U.S. leads the world in data center development, with more than 5,400 such facilities as of November 2025. This growth should prioritize the management of water for cooling data centers, according to the National Ground Water Association (NGWA).

A midsize data center may use approximately 110 million gallons of water per year, while a large hyperscale facility may use as much as 1.8 billion gallons annually, which is comparable to the water consumption of a medium-sized town. On-site water consumption from data centers could double by 2028 compared to the national total of 17 billion gallons used in 2023.

A position paper issued by NGWA states that continued data center growth must be planned and managed in a manner that protects groundwater resources relied upon by communities and ecosystems. Policymakers, regulators and data center developers are advised to incorporate groundwater sustainability into siting, permitting and operational decisions, including clear disclosure of water sources and water use.

NGWA also advocates for the evaluation and deployment of geothermal systems and other low-water-use technologies as scalable solutions that can significantly reduce or eliminate consumptive water use for data center cooling.