Cases / Data centre · Mexico · 2025
Querétaro data-centre water use (Mexico)
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Oxfam said a Microsoft campus in Querétaro, Mexico, held a permit to draw 25 million litres of water a year. An El País estimate put new data centres in Querétaro at 13% of metropolitan water consumption.
13% estimateEstimated share of Querétaro metropolitan water consumption used by new data centres
Estimate, not a measurement. El País estimate of 15 billion litres a year, as reported by Xataka México on 1 September 2025.
Estimate, not a measurement. El País estimate of 15 billion litres a year, as reported by Xataka México on 1 September 2025.
Status As of August 2026: Oxfam's figures were reported through Plano Informativo; no measurement of data-centre water use, response from the operators or ruling is on record in the sources reviewed.
What?
Reports on the water use of data centres in Querétaro: an Oxfam-reported 25 million litre a year permit for a Microsoft campus, and an El País estimate of 15 billion litres a year for new data centres. Plano Informativo (citing Reforma and Oxfam)
Where?
Querétaro, Mexico. Xataka México
When?
Reports dated 1 September 2025 and 31 August 2026. Xataka México
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
The sources reviewed do not state a reason beyond the reports themselves.
How?
The figures come from a permit reported by Oxfam and from an El País estimate of use by new data centres. Plano Informativo (citing Reforma and Oxfam)
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who
What happened
The record, in order.
On 1 September 2025 Xataka México reported an El País estimate that new data centres in Querétaro could use 15 billion litres of water a year, which it put at 13% of metropolitan consumption. It reported that 7 of the state's 11 aquifers were overexploited.
On 31 August 2026 Plano Informativo, citing Reforma and Oxfam, reported that, according to Oxfam, a Microsoft campus in Querétaro held a permit to draw 25 million litres of water a year, that 94% of the state was in extreme drought, and that promised jobs had not materialised.
Two data-centre facilities in Querétaro were reported to employ 17 people.
- 2025Xataka México (1 September) reports El País estimate: new data centres in Querétaro could use 15 billion litres a year, 13% of metropolitan consumption; 7 of 11 aquifers overexploited
- 2026Plano Informativo (31 August), citing Oxfam: a Microsoft campus in Querétaro holds a permit to draw 25 million litres a year; 94% of the state in extreme drought; promised jobs not materialised
What was said
Claims, in the words of those who made them.
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Did the jobs promised by data-centre projects in Querétaro materialise?
Communities and civil society
Oxfam
Said the promised jobs had not materialised (as reported by Plano Informativo, Reforma).
Plano Informativo (citing Reforma and Oxfam)How it looked
What was shown, beside what was recorded.
Shown
Recorded
- A Microsoft campus in Querétaro held a permit to draw 25 million litres of water a year, according to Oxfam as reported by Plano Informativo (Reforma).
- 94% of Querétaro state was in extreme drought, according to Oxfam as reported by Plano Informativo (Reforma).
- Oxfam said the jobs promised by data-centre projects had not materialised (as reported by Plano Informativo, Reforma).
- El País estimated that new data centres in Querétaro could use 15 billion litres of water a year, 13% of metropolitan consumption. This is an estimate, not a measurement.
- 7 of 11 aquifers were overexploited (as reported by Xataka México).
- Two data-centre facilities in Querétaro were reported to employ 17 people.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What nature saw
Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
Estimated share of metropolitan water consumption
13%
El País estimate for new data centres, 15 billion litres a year; not a measurement
Aquifers overexploited
7 of 11
As reported by Xataka México, September 2025
Share of the state in extreme drought
94%
Oxfam, as reported by Plano Informativo, August 2026
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Accounts
- Disputed Did the jobs promised by data-centre projects in Querétaro materialise?
Record
- None on record The 13% share and the 15 billion litre figure are an El País estimate, not a measurement.
- Insufficient A December 2025 report attributed to Oxfam describing data centres as a "new digital extractivism" reached the record only through a reports of a secondary report; it was not independently verified.
- None on record The Oxfam figures on the Microsoft permit and on drought are reported through Plano Informativo (Reforma) and were not checked against the Oxfam document.
- None on record The source of the figure of 17 employees at two facilities is not identified in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Who paid?
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Querétaro resiente el costo digitalPlano Informativo (citing Reforma and Oxfam) · 2026-08-31
- Acaparan el agua centros de datosPlano Informativo · 2025-12
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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- Microsoft forestry carbon deals and the Apple Restore Fund Brazil · 2024
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- Running Tide ocean carbon removal (Maine/Iceland) Iceland · 2017–2024
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