Data centre
13 cases in 11 countries, 2007–2026. Most cases: United States (4), Chile (3), Mexico (2), Kenya (1), India (1).
Kenya suspends Microsoft and G42 geothermal data centre plan at Naivasha
Kenya suspended a planned geothermal-powered data centre by Microsoft and G42 at Naivasha, reported in May 2026. Local herders said they were competing for water with billion-dollar companies, and the cited sources do not state the water volumes involved.
Data centres account for 46% of PJM capacity auction costs, market monitor says
The market monitor, Monitoring Analytics, attributed 29.4 billion dollars of the 63.6 billion dollars in the last four PJM capacity auctions to data-centre load. The cited sources do not describe environmental effects of that load.
xAI Colossus gas turbines (Memphis, Southaven)
xAI runs gas turbines to power data-centre sites in Memphis, Tennessee, and Southaven, Mississippi. In April 2026 the NAACP sued the company in federal court over 27 turbines at Southaven, alleging unlawful operation.
Querétaro data-centre water use (Mexico)
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.
Louisiana regulators fast-track second batch of gas plants for Meta data center
Louisiana regulators approved three gas plants for Meta's Hyperion data center in 2025 and fast-tracked seven more in April 2026. As You Sow and partners reported that Meta's location-based Scope 2 emissions rose about 150 percent from 2019 to 2024.
Andhra Pradesh granted Google-linked data centre incentives in October 2025
Andhra Pradesh set a 22,002 crore rupee incentive ceiling for Raiden Infotech, which the report describes as a Google company. The same reporting describes falling groundwater in Visakhapatnam and a 10 per cent water cut in Mumbai.
Sydney Water forecasts data centres could draw a quarter of usable water by 2035
Sydney Water projected that data centres could draw up to a quarter of the city's usable water by 2035, and said it had signed 12 confidentiality agreements with technology companies. The cited sources do not describe effects on rivers or ecosystems.
Google data centre, Cerrillos (Chile)
Chile's Environmental Court questioned a Google data-centre design that relied on at least 7.6 million litres of groundwater a day. In September 2024 Google dropped the original design and moved to air cooling.
Quilicura data centres draw about 1.5 billion litres a year; wetland largely dried
Data centres in Quilicura, Chile, draw about 1.5 billion litres of water a year, TechSpot reported. The 468-hectare wetland there has largely dried, the report says.
Google data centre, Canelones (Uruguay)
Google's original design for a data centre in Canelones foresaw about 7.6 million litres of drinking water a day, at a time of drought. Uruguay approved a reformulated project: air-cooled, at about one third of the capacity.
Amazon's water-positive pledge and a leaked 2022 memo
Amazon Web Services has pledged to be water positive by 2030. A leaked 2022 internal memo, reported in October 2025, discussed whether to leave the water used in generating electricity out of the pledge.
Johor and Batam data centres for Singapore
After Singapore limited new data centre capacity, planned capacity grew in neighbouring Johor (Malaysia) and Batam (Indonesia). Johor paused approvals of water-intensive facilities in November 2025, and residents of Batam's Nongsa area, without piped water for three to six months, blocked the road to a data centre park in October 2026.
Big Tech data-centre emissions accounting (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta)
Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta report data-centre emissions using accounting rules that count purchased renewable certificates. Company reports, press and researchers give differing pictures of what those figures show about electricity, emissions and water.