When it comes to total water use, AI data centers are a drop in the bucket
When it comes to total water use, AI data centers are a drop in the bucket
就总用水量而言，AI 数据中心不过是沧海一粟
If you hang out in any even vaguely AI-skeptical parts of the Internet, you’ve probably stumbled on plenty of memes and posts premised on data centers’ insatiable thirst for water to power evaporative cooling. 如果你经常浏览互联网上任何对人工智能持怀疑态度的角落，你可能已经看过许多模因（meme）和帖子，它们都基于一个前提：数据中心为了维持蒸发冷却系统，对水有着贪得无厌的需求。
But a new report from Amazon highlights just how little water all these AI data centers are using in aggregate, on a relative basis, even as individual data centers can strain local water supplies. 但亚马逊的一份新报告强调，从相对角度来看，所有这些 AI 数据中心的总用水量其实非常少，尽管个别数据中心确实可能给当地供水造成压力。
In a Thursday blog post, Amazon claims its data centers withdrew “about 2.5 billion gallons” globally in 2025. That number sounds incredibly large at first glance, but it looks downright puny compared to the 117 trillion gallons of water withdrawn in the US alone in 2015. 在周四的一篇博客文章中，亚马逊声称其数据中心在 2025 年全球取水量“约为 25 亿加仑”。乍一看，这个数字大得惊人，但与 2015 年仅美国一国的 117 万亿加仑取水量相比，它就显得微不足道了。
It’s also useful to compare Amazon’s number to stats from more water-intensive areas, from the 3.3 trillion gallons used annually on US lawns and landscaping to the 1.3 trillion gallons a year used in California almond orchards to the 531 billion gallons a year used just for US golf courses. 将亚马逊的数据与用水量更大的领域进行对比也很有参考价值：美国草坪和景观绿化每年耗水 3.3 万亿加仑，加州杏仁果园每年耗水 1.3 万亿加仑，而仅美国的高尔夫球场每年就要消耗 5310 亿加仑的水。
Amazon is just one company, of course, and a relative latecomer to reporting its data center water usage numbers. Google data centers withdrew about more than 6.1 billion gallons of water in 2024, on top of about 2.75 billion gallons from Microsoft and about 1.4 billion gallons from Meta in the same year. 当然，亚马逊只是一家公司，而且在报告其数据中心用水量方面相对较晚。2024 年，谷歌数据中心的取水量超过 61 亿加仑，同年微软和 Meta 的取水量分别约为 27.5 亿加仑和 14 亿加仑。
All told, a 2021 Nature study estimates that all US data centers combined consumed about 163 billion gallons of water that year, a number that includes “indirect” consumption from non-renewable power sources. That number has doubtlessly increased in the AI-driven years since that study was published—one analysis estimates that Texas data centers alone used 25 to 49 billion gallons in 2024, and could grow to withdraw 399 billion gallons in 2030. 总而言之，2021 年《自然》杂志的一项研究估计，当年美国所有数据中心总共消耗了约 1630 亿加仑的水，这一数字包括了来自不可再生能源的“间接”消耗。自该研究发表以来，在人工智能驱动的几年里，这个数字无疑有所增加——一项分析估计，仅德克萨斯州的数据中心在 2024 年就使用了 250 亿至 490 亿加仑的水，到 2030 年取水量可能增长至 3990 亿加仑。
But even annual data center water usage measured in the trillions would represent a figurative (and kind of literal) drop in the bucket compared to national and worldwide water usage statistics. 但即使数据中心的年用水量达到万亿级别，与国家和全球的用水统计数据相比，也仅仅是沧海一粟（比喻意义上，甚至在某种程度上是字面意义上）。
Think globally, worry locally
全球视野，本地忧虑
While there’s no risk of big tech companies literally draining the oceans to power the data centers behind their LLMs, even moderately sized data centers can have an outsized effect on nearby water resources. 虽然大型科技公司不会真的抽干海洋来为支撑其大语言模型（LLM）的数据中心供电，但即使是中等规模的数据中心，也可能对附近的各种水资源产生巨大的影响。
A single Meta data center in Newton County, Georgia, for instance, now uses about 10 percent of the entire county’s water supply, according to a New York Times report from last year. And the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin recently estimated that data centers account for 8 percent of total water consumption in the region, a rate that could climb to 29 percent by 2050 if the large concentration of data centers in northern Virginia continues apace. 例如，据《纽约时报》去年的一篇报道，位于佐治亚州牛顿县的一个 Meta 数据中心，目前消耗了该县约 10% 的供水。波托马克河盆地州际委员会最近估计，数据中心占该地区总用水量的 8%，如果北弗吉尼亚州数据中心的高度集中趋势持续下去，到 2050 年这一比例可能会攀升至 29%。
That kind of concentrated water use can put severe strain on local infrastructure and water supplies, and has led to at least one situation where a data center siphoned millions of gallons from local sources without initially paying. 这种集中的用水方式会给当地基础设施和供水系统带来巨大压力，并已导致至少一起数据中心在未付费的情况下从当地水源抽取数百万加仑水的事件。
The local impacts can be especially severe in areas that are already water-stressed; a 2025 Business Insider report found that 40 percent of planned and existing data centers in the US are in areas with “high” or “extremely high” water scarcity, as measured by the World Resources Institute. 在那些本就缺水的地区，这种局部影响可能尤为严重；《商业内幕》2025 年的一份报告发现，根据世界资源研究所的衡量，美国 40% 的规划中和现有数据中心位于“高”或“极高”缺水风险的地区。
In light of these concerns, the biggest tech companies are eager to project an image of efficiency and responsible stewardship regarding water supplies. Amazon says it has been letting data centers run hotter to use less water for cooling, helping it to use less water per kilowatt-hour than other major data center providers. 鉴于这些担忧，大型科技公司急于树立其在供水方面高效且负责任的形象。亚马逊表示，它一直在让数据中心在更高的温度下运行，以减少冷却用水，这使其每千瓦时的用水量低于其他主要数据中心提供商。
Amazon also says it’s funding “50 water projects expected to return more than 5.8 billion gallons of water annually for use by local communities,” and Google has laid out 165 water stewardship projects that it says “are expected to replenish more than 19 billion gallons of water annually by 2030.” 亚马逊还表示，它正在资助“50 个水资源项目，预计每年可为当地社区回馈超过 58 亿加仑的水”，而谷歌也制定了 165 个水资源管理项目，称这些项目“预计到 2030 年每年可补充超过 190 亿加仑的水”。
If all the memes and worries about data center water consumption are helping to drive this kind of environmental responsibility among PR-focused big tech companies, that’s all for the better. But if your concerned friend starts worrying about AI data centers literally causing a worldwide water catastrophe, the actual numbers involved should hopefully put those worries to rest. 如果所有关于数据中心耗水的模因和担忧，能够推动这些注重公关的大型科技公司承担起这种环境责任，那自然是再好不过了。但如果你的朋友开始担心 AI 数据中心真的会引发全球性的水资源灾难，那么这些实际数据应该足以让他们放下心来。