Amazon’s Strategy to Cut Data Centre Water Consumption

One of the biggest sustainability challenges for the rapidly growing data centre sector is its water use for cooling.

Total water consumption across the AI supply chain is projected to climb to roughly 1.2 trillion litres by 2030, up from about 560 billion litres in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Around two‑thirds of that is linked to primary energy supply, while cooling accounts for roughly a quarter.

To manage this issue before it becomes a key strategic problem for data centre providers, technology leaders are investing in measures to reduce water use in their data centres.

Amazon, the parent company of Amazon Web Services, one of the largest data centre operators in the world, has claimed to reduce its water use per kWh of compute. The company said its global data centre operations used 0.12 litres of water per kilowatt hour (L/kWh) in 2025.

This industry average is 0.84L/kWh, leading to Amazon’s claim that it’s data centre as over seven times more water efficient.

Amazon says these efficiency gains are the result of investment in custom cooling technology, smarter systems and “a commitment to minimise water use wherever possible”.

“We’ve been working on water for a long time, and that’s helped us gain efficiency. It’s also taught us that solutions don’t lie in one single practice, innovation, or idea,” says Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amazon.

“We focus on multiple approaches - from data centre operations to investing in community replenishment projects - because making a real impact requires holistic thinking.

“And while we’re doing this in the best way possible, we also know we have to keep innovating - because the world keeps changing.”

How does Amazon cool its data centres?

Amazon says it mostly cools data centres with natural cool air, requiring zero water use. It pulls in outside air, running it past servers to absorb heat, then pumping it back outside.

"It's kind of like in your house," explains Joern Tinnemeyer, a data centre engineering leader at Amazon. "It's a nice summer morning. It's not that hot out. I'm gonna open up my windows rather than turn the air conditioner on, and just let the breeze pull through."

It is only when temperatures get particularly hot that Amazon adds water.

Water is sprayed onto an absorbent medium that Amazon water specialist Beau Schilz describes as "a sophisticated, giant sponge”.

Hot air then flows through this sponge and as the water evaporates around the data centre, it pulls heat from the air, cooling the temperature by 5-10 degrees.

Trials for running hot

To reduce the need for water-based cooling, Amazon is also increasing the temperatures at which its data centres can operate.

“We've raised the temperature thresholds our servers can tolerate, reducing the hours water is needed while always ensuring the health and safety of our teams,” says Sergio Loureiro, VP of Global Datacentres Operations at AWS.

“For AI workloads, we're deploying closed-loop liquid cooling that recirculates fluid without increasing water consumption.

“But our innovation doesn't stop at our data centre fence line. We work closely with local utilities, invest in upgrading local infrastructure without adding costs to existing ratepayers, and apply AI tools to help communities beyond our operations optimise water use.

“We're not just a water user. We're actually a partner in building more resilient water systems.”

Cross-sector efforts to cut water

Amazon is not alone in increasing water efficiency at its data centres.

US-based rival Google has committed to returning more water to local systems than its data centres use by 2030.

The company announced this target earlier in June 2026, alongside US$17m of funding for watershed protection projects.

Google also notes that data centre water use accounts for less than 1% of the volume Americans use for lawn irrigation each year.

Similarly, Amazon notes that the global data centre industry accounts for less than 0.5% of total industrial water use worldwide.

Amazon is also aiming to be net-water positive by 2030.

Cooling innovation

There are also more innovative efforts to boost cooling, without adding water stress.

Earlier this month, the world’s first wind-powered underwater data centre began operations off the coast of China.

The “Shanghai Lingang undersea data centre demonstration project”, a joint effort between HiCloud Technology and China Communications Construction, a state-owned company, has a capacity of 24MW.

It is located more than 10km off the coast of Shanghai and 10 metres below the water's surface. It is also powered by a nearby offshore wind farm.

The data centre needs around 80% of the power of a land-based unit, due to lower energy demands from being cooled by the surrounding seawater.