Does Wyoming Have the Water for Thirsty Data Centers?

It is said that the proposed data centers to be built in the state of Wyoming would use a lot of water in order to keep cool. Water is at a premium for a dry state like Wyoming. So, what would the actual cost of water be?

Listeners to Wyoming's morning radio talk show Wake Up Wyoming have been asking questions.

Data centers consume significant water, often millions of gallons daily, primarily for cooling servers via evaporation in cooling towers to prevent overheating. But power also must be created to run the data centers, and that also takes water. Wind and solar power do not provide enough energy to run these centers and are unreliable. Data centers need consistent energy, not intermittent.

Google operates Oregon data centers at The Dalles. Their water-use totals were 355.1 million gallons; a quarter of the city’s annual water use in 2021.

In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting two years ago, Morrow County’s David Sykes said that during negotiations with Amazon, “We did talk water use …because, especially here in Eastern Oregon, water is very important. Some industries use a lot more water than they will. They use it for cooling in the summer. A lot of it’s being recycled through. So, they’re pretty good and judicious with their water use, we feel.”

Part of the reason for these data centers wanting to move to states like Wyoming is the ability to 'air cool'. Most of the year, Wyoming is cooler than most other states. Imagine something like opening the windows to allow filtered air in. However, the system is a bit more complicated than that.

Evaporative cooling is the most common and effective use of water to cool data centers. As air passes through the medium, the water evaporates, cooling the air.

Water cooling through pipes is water pumped through pipes surrounding IT equipment. It flows through the processing units. Then through a radiator. Fans remove the heat. A reservoir may hold extra water. Water cooling systems fall into two categories: open loop and closed loop. (Sunbird).

So, how much water will Wyoming data centers need? Does Wyoming have enough to spare? The investigation and discussion have just begun.