Google’s data center water usage is revealed - and it’s a lot
Search giant’s data centers use billions of gallons every year
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Googleused over four billion gallons of water in its data centers around the world in 2021, with 3.3 billion of those being in the US and 971 million the rest of the world, new figures have revealed.
The figures came to light after media outletThe Oregonianchallenged the city of The Dalles, Oregon to reveal how much water a Google data center in the region consumed.
The legal dispute rattled on for 13 months, as the city of The Dalles sought to prevent the release of Google’s consumption data. However, the city eventually relented, and revealed that the tech giant used 274.5 million gallons of water in 2021 alone.
Opening the floodgates
The city also promised to make such data available going forward.
The Oregonian alsoreportedthat the facilities had almost tripled their water usage within five years, claiming that they now use over a quarter of all the city’s water. What’s more, this only looks set to increase further, as Google has plans to build two more data centers in The Dalles.
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Google claims that this water consumption is similar to that of 29 golf courses in the US. It also maintained that these numbers do not include the seawater that it uses.
The problem of data center water usage is widespread, andcolocation providersare working on improvements as regulations governing such consumption are set to take hold in various regions.
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A report from the IT advisory firmUptime Institutefound that currently, only half of data center operators report their water usage. It also recommended simple fixes to meet future sustainability criteria, such as covering empty server racks to improve airflow, and upgrading legacy cooling systems that are still in use.
Lewis Maddison is a Reviews Writer for TechRadar. He previously worked as a Staff Writer for our business section, TechRadar Pro, where he had experience with productivity-enhancing hardware, ranging from keyboards to standing desks. His area of expertise lies in computer peripherals and audio hardware, having spent over a decade exploring the murky depths of both PC building and music production. He also revels in picking up on the finest details and niggles that ultimately make a big difference to the user experience.
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