Amazon said its global data-center operations withdrew about 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, as data center companies around the world face growing scrutiny over the environmental impact of artificial intelligence.
The company disclosed the figure in a blog post Thursday outlining its water-efficiency efforts. Amazon said water use at sites it owns and operates directly fell 2% from 2024 levels, even while it expanded its data-center footprint.
Amazon said its data centers used 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of electricity in 2025, which it said was more efficient than the industry average. The company said by the end of this decade it will return more water to communities than its direct operations consume.
How much water does AI use? A new UN report has alarming answers
Key points
A new report from the UN University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health raises concerns over the massive amount of energy, water, and other resources used by AI data centers annually.
The report predicts that, by 2030, global data centers could use 9.3 trillion liters of water each year, enough to meet the basic needs of every person in Sub-Saharan Africa for a full year.
Data centers are often built in already drought-stressed regions, putting further pressure on local communities.
Research and reporting from organizations including the Environmental and Energy Study Institute has already raised concerns about the high quantities of water used by artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, and according to the United Nations (UN), it’s going to get far, far worse.
In June, the UN University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health published a 56-page report outlining how the data centers powering every chatbot query, AI-generated image, and machine learning tool are pulling billions of liters of water from some of the world’s most drought-stressed regions — often without any pressure to take accountability for the resources they’re using.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/much-water-does-ai-un-095600064.html