Data Centers and Water: People, Policy and Planning

Siting and water risk: How water availability, basin stress, and competing local demand should inform where data centers are built. Cooling and resource trade-offs: How different cooling approaches affect water and energy use, from air and evaporative cooling to liquid cooling and emerging technologies. Measurement and disclosure: What credible water-use reporting should capture, including withdrawals, consumption, water sources, recycled-water use, and local impacts. Bringing together perspectives from industry, utilities, regulators, investors, and communities, the session explores how digital infrastructure can grow while remaining responsive to local water realities and maintaining its social and environmental license to operate.