The expanding use of artificial intelligence and other trends in computing have contributed to increased development of data centers. Simply, a data center is a physical facility that houses and runs large computer systems. The increased number and size of these facilities have raised concerns about the resources needed to support data center operation, including use, consumption, and discharge of water. These concerns have garnered congressional attention. Members of Congress and their constituents may have questions regarding a data center’s potential impact on the quantity and quality of local water resources. Data centers house equipment that processes, stores, manages, and disseminates digital information, or data, in support of a variety of information technology (IT) services. Within a data center, processing units and other computing and networking devices and systems generate heat. Thermal regulation of the hardware can remove excess heat and maintain system function. Systems that provide thermal regulation manage airflow, cooling, and other air-conditioning needs. Generally, the cooling technologies used in data centers rely on either air cooling or liquid cooling. Liquid-cooled systems generally use water to transfer heat. Data centers may rely on several different types of cooling technologies, depending on facility characteristics such as size, computing load, location, local climate conditions, thermal regulation needs of computing equipment, and access and availability of water for cooling purposes. How local water resources are affected by data center water withdrawals and consumption (water consumption means water withdrawn and no longer available for reuse) depends on the water conditions and supply options available locally and/or regionally, as well as other demands for water. Currently, most operators of data centers acquire water from municipal water systems, commonly referred to as public water systems. Other potential sources include treated wastewater (commonly referred to as reclaimed water) and direct withdrawals from surface water or groundwater. Congress has generally deferred to the states’ primacy in intrastate water allocation. State laws and regulations largely govern access to freshwater within a state. Despite this deference to state primacy, the federal government has invested in infrastructure to assist in the development of water resources through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. These facilities may store water for various purposes, which could ultimately include water used for data centers. In some instances, data centers may be using water from these sources indirectly via public water systems or communities that have agreements with such federal agencies. Data centers may generate different types of water-related discharges (i.e., effluents), including wastewater and stormwater discharges. In addition, in some cases when land is developed to construct data centers, the development may include discharges of dredged or fill material into wetlands or streams. The project proponent for data center development and the owner/operator of the data center facility may need to comply with certain federal requirements, including obtaining Clean Water Act permits or approvals, which aim to prevent or minimize water quality impacts from the data center’s discharges. The pollutants that may be present in data center wastewater discharges depend upon several factors, including the source and quality of the water being used for cooling, the cooling technology being used, site-specific operations, and whether the discharges are from normal operations or from construction and commissioning phases. Currently, data centers most commonly send their wastewater effluent to publicly owned treatment works. To address data centers and water, some Members have introduced bills in the 119th Congress. These bills are identified in a table in this report. Some of these bills include provisions to improve the available information about data center water use, to incentivize certain practices (e.g., water reuse) at data centers, or to limit or facilitate data center construction.
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