U.S. data center water consumption is projected to quadruple to 72.6 billion gallons annually by 2028, sparking intense community backlash and environmental concerns across water-stressed regions. While developers pitch projects like Triple Oak Energy's Home Range as less water-intensive than existing agriculture over the depleted Ogallala Aquifer, local residents cite power and resource strain. Meanwhile, industry leaders and the EPA are backing tax credits and water reuse initiatives to mitigate scarcity risks.
Projected expansion of US data centers
- ▪Data center water usage in the United States is projected to increase from 17.4 billion gallons in 2023 to 72.6 billion gallons by 2028.
- ▪Data Center Map reports over 4,700 operating and planned data centers in the United States, led by Virginia with over 670, Texas with 537, and California with over 200.
- ▪As of October 2026, prediction market platform Kalshi indicates a 75 percent probability that more than 5,100 data centers will be planned or operating prior to 2027.
Community opposition to data centers
- ▪Residents and activists across various communities oppose data center construction over concerns regarding water consumption, power grid demand, utility costs, and noise pollution.
- ▪On July 28, 2026, Ann McCoslin assembled 'no data center' signs along a county road near a proposed Crusoe data center in Jewett, Texas.
Concerns over Ogallala Aquifer depletion
- ▪Community water managers and water lawyers express concern that incoming data centers could further deplete the strained Ogallala Aquifer in the Great Plains.
- ▪Large swaths of the Ogallala Aquifer have declined unevenly since 1950 due to agricultural irrigation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Triple Oak Energy Kansas project
- ▪Triple Oak Energy has proposed the Home Range development in Finney and Kearny counties, Kansas, combining wind, solar, natural gas, battery storage, and a hyperscale data center.
- ▪Triple Oak Energy Chief Executive Officer Jesse Gronner asserts that its proposed Kansas data center will use significantly less water than agricultural uses and benefit the Ogallala Aquifer.
- ▪Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District #3 civil engineer Trevor Ahring stated Triple Oak Energy indicated its data center would use up to 1,800 acre-feet of water annually.
Proposed Osawatomie Kansas data center
- ▪Developers pitch a mid-sized data center project in Osawatomie, Kansas, claiming it could generate up to $10 billion in new construction and equipment and $40 million annually in municipal revenue.
- ▪MDH Partners representative Charles Tinsley stated the proposed Osawatomie, Kansas data center would use less water than a golf course and contract separately for electricity.
Efforts to promote industrial water reuse
- ▪The Environmental Protection Agency's 2026 water-reuse plan involves Amazon Web Services to address regulatory barriers hindering recycled-water cooling systems in data centers.
- ▪Water technology and industrial groups are advocating for a new tax credit to incentivize water reuse projects that process industrial discharge into reusable water supplies.
- ▪A report suggests that reusing treated industrial discharge onsite could help mitigate water scarcity driven by expanding data centers and prolonged drought conditions.
Debatable claims
- ▪Converting prime farmland into data centers harms long-term rural community wealth
- ▪Replacing agricultural land with data centers reduces net regional water consumption
- ▪Projected tax revenues from rural data centers justify their local resource demand
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