Data centres provide online searches, web advertising and cloud services. They are energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, but there is a hidden cost: these facilities use billions of liters of water.
These massive computer-filled warehouses are usually located close to large population hubs to help its web services respond quickly.The processing units inside heat up quickly, and water is needed to cool them down.
Think about how often you hear the fans of your computer spinning. This is because the device is overheated and needs to draw in outside air to reduce its temperature.
The same happens in data centers, just at a much larger scale. Chillers exchange the internal heat with the cooler external environment, or air is drawn in and then cooled down. A 1MW data center using traditional cooling can use around 25.55 million litres of water per year.
