Arizona data centers negotiate water use

Arizona’s tech boom has brought jobs, investment and innovation to the desert.

But as the number of data centers multiply across the Valley, so does concern over what keeps their humming servers cool: water.

According to Data Center Map , 162 data centers now operate in Arizona, with many more planned or under construction. These massive facilities, the digital backbone of cloud computing, social media and artificial intelligence, rely on enormous quantities of water to keep thousands of servers from overheating.

In a state already straining to conserve every drop, the growth of data centers is colliding head-on with the Southwest’s deepening water crisis.

Data centers in the Phoenix region currently use about 385 million gallons of water eac

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