Amazon reports 9.5 bn L water use in data centers, efficiency claim questioned

Amazon disclosed that its data centers consumed 2.5 billion US gallons (about 9.5 billion litres) of water in 2025. The company reported a Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) of 0.12 L/kWh, saying this is seven times better than the industry average of 0.84 L/kWh. The claim is disputed because Amazon calculates WUE by counting all water that enters the wastewater system, whereas most rivals count only water actually evaporated in cooling, making direct comparisons unreliable.

Overall water use fell 2 % year‑over‑year, with a 42 % drop in the Northern Virginia cluster. About 90 % of cooling operates on free‑air cooling, and evaporative cooling is only used when ambient temperatures exceed roughly 29 °C. Amazon says it is three‑quarters of the way to becoming water‑positive by 2030 – returning more water to communities than it consumes.

Competitors cite different figures: Microsoft reported a 0.27 L/kWh WUE and about 2.7 billion gallons total water use in 2024, while Google’s overall corporate water use was 9.9 billion gallons, though it does not publish a WUE for its data centers.