The Hidden Cost of AI: How Data Centers Are Straining Water, Power, and Communities

by Ella Mrofka / February 6th, 2026

Editor’s Note: This is the second of two Dispatches on AI data centers; read the previous article, by Alefiya Presswala, here.

The residents of Saline Township, Michigan, are upset. Soon, construction will begin on a 2.2 million-square-foot data center located just outside the small rural town, which will ultimately serve two Big Tech companies: Oracle and OpenAI. Area residents oppose the facility because they fear it will strain the region’s power grid and increase their electricity bills, disrupt the area’s farmland, and consume much of the area’s water (as the plant will ultimately use more water than any other single user in the Great Lakes region). Some residents are taking their concerns to court, while others believe these new data centers can lead by example if they protect the environment during building and usage.

Many other cities around the United States are also fighting the construction of new data centers, and for similar reasons: concern that they will lead to water shortages and soaring energy bills. Community members are signing petitions, and, according to Data Center Watch, $98 billion worth of data center investments have been blocked as communities organize to fight for more and stricter regulations on these massive facilities and their demand for water and energy.

Water Usage

Big tech companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are continuing to expand their data centers due to the rapid rise of AI. An April 2025 study by SourceMaterial and The Guardian determined that these companies plan to expand the number of data centers by 78 percent.

For AI to answer a prompt, it performs many calculations, all of which generate heat. Data centers use vast amounts of water to cool servers and other equipment. The Washington Post reports that large data centers can use up to five million gallons of water a day, equivalent to the daily water needs of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

According to a new study summarized in a December 17 article in The Verge, AI could consume between 312.5 and 764.6 billion liters of water in 2025. To put that figure in perspective, the country’s largest metropolis, New York City, uses approximately 1 billion gallons, or 4.5 billion liters, of water per day. So, in 2024, existing AI data centers sucked up as much water as a city of 9 million people used in 5 months.

In 2023, Microsoft acknowledged that 42 percent of its water came from areas experiencing water stress, while Amazon did not report a figure. It is common to build data centers in dry regions to decrease the risk of corrosion damage to their servers. This affects water-scarce areas like Arizona and Virginia, where many US data centers are being built. Newton County,  Georgia, is on track to face a water deficit by 2030 after Meta broke ground on a $750 million data center, according to the New York Times.

Northern Virginia is home to the most data centers in the world, even as the state continues to experience drought and increased water scarcity. Roughly 70 percent of global internet traffic runs through data centers in Virginia. The Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition fights for transparency from these big tech companies to connect data centers and water issues. Without full transparency, these companies can continue to target water-stressed areas without public understanding of how natural resources are being depleted.

For instance, Mike Doble, a communications advisor for the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition, explains that demand for electricity in Virginia is expected to double or triple “over the next 15 years. … an unprecedented amount of increase.”

Microsoft claims that it will build a zero-water data center by 2027 and will be water offsetting alongside Google by 2030, but this does not change the fact that hundreds of already operational data centers are all highly water-reliant.

Energy Usage

As AI growth accelerates, energy usage will also skyrocket. According to a 2024 report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data center energy use has tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028. Data centers are projected to account for nine percent of global electricity consumption by 2030.

Scientists and researchers argue that AI companies also fail to fully disclose how much energy their current models use or the projected demands of future projects.

In 2024, natural gas accounted for forty percent of the energy used by US data centers, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Renewables, nuclear power, and coal also supplied electricity to data centers. Natural gas is projected to remain the largest source of energy for data centers through 2030. Focusing on increasing renewable energy use in data centers should be a top priority.

Increasing energy demands by data centers affect electricity bills for Americans. According to a Bloomberg News analysis, electricity costs in areas near data centers are as much as 267 percent higher than they were five years ago. People located near data centers are not the only ones feeling the effects. A July 2025 report by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that the average US electricity bill could increase by eight percent by 2030 due to data centers and cryptocurrency mining.

The “simple” solution, according to the New York​​ Times, is to ask big tech companies to draw less power from the grid when it is most strained, relying on batteries to power operations during those periods. However, this is not a realistic solution because there is no law requiring big tech companies to do this.

Resistance and Solutions

A coalition of 230 environmental groups is campaigning for a halt to the construction of new data centers, due to environmental concerns, The Guardian reported in December 2025. “The rapid, largely unregulated rise of datacenters to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening Americans’ economic, environmental, climate and water security,” according to a letter sent to Congress by members of the coalition, which includes national and international groups such as Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace, and Oil Change International, as well as regional and state-based organizations.

Given AI’s harmful environmental impacts, steps should be taken to slow and prevent the construction of new data centers until they are built in ways that do not contribute to further environmental destruction.

In order for AI and data centers to become more sustainable, companies would need to be transparent about how much energy and water they use. Without accurate data from all major tech companies, the effectiveness of potential solutions is limited.

Doble, the spokesperson with the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition, recommended that “the place to make your mark is at the local and state level, knowing who’s making the decisions, because right now, big businesses are making the decisions.” To achieve data center transparency, state lawmakers must enact policy.

In 2023, Oregon lawmakers introduced a bill requiring data centers to run on entirely clean energy by 2040. Amazon lobbied against the bill, leading to its demise.

Using solar and wind energy in data centers instead of relying on unsustainable sources such as natural gas, coal, and oil can change future projections. The operation and maintenance of solar energy systems are up to 60 percent more cost-efficient than conventional technology. Solar and wind energy are becoming more efficient and should be used to power AI data centres.

Using closed-loop cooling systems allows for both rainwater and recycled wastewater to be used multiple times. This method reduces freshwater use by 70 percent.

It is hard to rely fully on renewable energy sources, given the outdated electrical grid being used today. Experts believe the grid needs to be updated, as 70 percent of power lines are more than twenty-five years old.

With AI continually on the rise, there is no time to waste. As a society, we need to have conversations about potential solutions and implement them soon, so that we don’t leave future generations in further crisis.

• First published at Project Censored.

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Ella Mrofka is a sophomore journalism major at North Central College in Illinois. In summer 2025, she completed an internship with Project Censored. Read other articles by Ella.

Progress of Digital Conolization? AI Data Centers Spark Debate on Native Lands

Jen Deerinwater - Jesse Deer In Water

 March 20, 2026

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Protesters gather outside DTE Energy headquarters in downtown Detroit during the “No Data Centers, No Secret Deals” demonstration, opposing a proposed massive data center in Saline Township, Michigan. Around 100 people attended the rally, holding signs reading “You Can’t Drink Data” and “No Secret Deals for Data” to raise concerns about water use, transparency, and public accountability in the project. Photo credit: Valerie Jean, December 16, 2025.

The recent explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers has created a litany of environmental and cultural issues for Native people and Tribes across the so-called “United States.” This, in turn, has sparked intense debate and prompted conversations on tribal digital sovereignty and a call for regulation that controls the data, infrastructure, and networks.

Data centers are facilities that keep and manage internet technology infrastructure for processing, storing, and distributing large quantities of data. They are key to modern digital services, which can include AI. As AI use and data generation grow, so does the need for data centers to manage and store data. But the environmental impact is a growing concern for many, especially for Tribal Nations in the “U.S.”

Debates rage on within Native communities over concerns about the resources needed to power the centers, the environmental impacts of such centers, and the rampant cultural appropriation and creative and cultural theft predominant in AI. Some in Indian Country believe data centers can be used for the betterment of Tribes, while others are diametrically opposed.

Energy Production Ramps Up for AI

The “U.S.” is home to a third of the world’s data centers. The centers require large amounts of electricity to power them and water to cool them. On average, a single data center can consume up to 2 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity-the amount of electricity they use per hour-approximately the equivalent power consumption of a small town. Data centers consumed more than 4% of “U.S.” electricity in 2023, with estimates suggesting a potential rise to 12% by 2028.

Bloomberg News reported in January 2026 that in areas near AI data centers, there has been a 267% increase in monthly electricity costs compared to five years ago. This increase is due to a need to expand existing regional power grids to support the centers, costs which are often passed onto consumers, including urban Native communities.

The states housing the data centers give the ok to local energy utilities to raise customers’ utility fees to pay for the massive upgrades required to power the data centers. This passes higher rates on to all customers, including urban Natives. Over 70% of the Native community in the “U.S.” lives in urban and suburban areas suffering from higher rates of poverty.

To meet this growing demand, utility companies are adding new gas plants and delaying the retirement of fossil fuels. One such company in Virginia, the “U.S.” state with the largest concentration of data centers in the world, is building a 1,000-megawatt gas plant in Chesterfield County and has gutted plans to switch to renewable energy sources. According to Global Energy Monitor, the “U.S.” now accounts for almost one-quarter of the world’s total gas powered energy in development with more than one-third of the energy reserved for data centers.

A young demonstrator holds a sign reading “Keep Michigan Pure” during the “No Data Centers, No Secret Deals” protest. The rally brought together residents concerned about environmental protections, water resources, and government transparency. Photo credit: Valerie Jean, December 16, 2025.

There has also been a push for nuclear energy proliferation to power data centers. Meta, a social media and technology multinational company, is now one of the largest corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in “U.S.” history. They’ve recently announced several agreements with three major energy providers to secure up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2035.

There are talks of reopening Three Mile Island (TMI), a defunct nuclear power plant that sits atop a strip of land in the Susquehanna River in “Pennsylvania,”to power Microsoft’s data centers. On March 28, 1979, TMI experienced a partial meltdown when a cooling system malfunctioned. Today, there’s roughly a tennis court-sized amount of High-Level Radioactive Waste from the incident stored on site. In a sick twist of irony, TMI will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Complex if successful in reopening in 2027, one year earlier than originally estimated.

The energy plant, data centers, and TMI are in an area of the “U.S.” that has suffered from a gas fracking boom of the Marcellus and Utica Shales that has already led to increases in cancer and other health issues, environmental harm to local water supplies, and the devaluation of people’s homes. Communities have fought numerous pipelines, cracker plants, export, and other related facilities since the boom took off in late 2009/early 2010. The shales cover a large section of Central Appalachia, extending into “New York” state near several Native reservations such as the Onondaga.

The Office of Nuclear Energy under the US Department of Energy claims that the radiation exposure from the TMI catastrophe was limited with no resulting fatalities, adverse health impacts, or environmental repercussions. However, health impacts from Three Mile Island have indeed been documented. Penn State College of Medicine researchers found “tumor samples from people verified to have lived in the areas around TMI at the time of the accident, remained in the area, and subsequently developed thyroid cancer, researchers observed a shift in cases to cancer mutations consistent with radiation exposure from those consistent with random causes.” This gives credence to the opposition who claim the government and nuclear and tech industries are downplaying the consequences of nuclear energy, including environmental ramifications.

More nuclear power plants equals more uranium mining. The largest deposits of uranium in the “U.S.” sit on Native lands, like the Navajo Nation. The largest uranium deposits in the world are on Indigenous lands in “Australia.” Communities in these areas suffer from significantly higher rates of cancer with fewer healthcare resources than other areas of the colonial countries.

Protesters gather outside the Michigan State Capitol during the “No Data Centers, No Secret Deals” demonstration, holding signs that read “Big Tech Back Off.” Participants called for public investment in essential services and greater transparency in development decisions. Photo credit: Valerie Jean, December 16, 2025.

AI data centers are also furthering the “U.S.” military industrial complex. In December 2024, the University of Michigan announced an $850 million investment in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, the institution responsible for developing, testing, and deploying the nuclear bomb through the Manhattan Project. University officials state they’re building the “biggest, baddest, fastest computer in the world,” with over 90% of the facility’s computational power slated for LANL’s classified warfare project. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has proudly proclaimed that the “U.S.” government’s buildup of AI infrastructure is “the Second Manhattan Project,” moving the world toward nuclear war on the backs of the local community and “Michigan” taxpayers. Beginning in 1951, the “U.S.” government performed 928 nuclear tests on Western Shoshone lands; the most nuclear-bombed nation in the world.

Cheyenne Morgan (United Keetoowah Band and Oglala Lakota), Coalitional Coordinator of Stop Data Colonialism, told The Magazine that Project Clydesdale, a proposed data center project south of “Owasso, Oklahoma” on the Cherokee Nation reservation, has been a source of concern for some in the community. Morgan noticed while reading documents related to a zoning proposal that the message conveyed to the public differed to that in industry and government documents. “Talk to your neighbors about data centers, find out what they know, file open records requests with your local, county, and state governments,” Morgan warned.

AI & Water Usage

A July 2025 University of Michigan study states that for higher-density data centers cooling via water is required for the centers’ performance. As of this publication, 22% of data center facilities use water-based cooling systems. Most data centers use over 10 million gallons of water annually; some exceed that with usage in the hundreds of millions of gallons per year. Google’s Council Bluffs data center in Iowa uses approximately 980 million gallons of water per year, equivalent to the annual water usage of over 4 million homes.

In sharp contrast is the lack of clean water access on reservations. According to the Navajo Water Project, in 2019 30% of those residing on the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the “U.S.,” were without running water. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the “U.S.” owes no “affirmative duty” to the Navajo Nation to secure water, reversing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The justices ruled that the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo established no federal obligation to do so.

There may be water-saving alternatives. According to Matthew Rantanen (Cree descendant), the Director of Technology for the Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association, co-chair for the Tech and Telecommunications Committee at the National Congress of American Indians, and cofounder of the tribal broadband boot camps, data centers can have more sustainable construction. Rantanen told The Magazine that data centers can be built underground, using the Earth’s natural cooling to reduce the heat created by the equipment, as well as different air flow systems that can avoid the usage of water altogether. “I think in most of the Indian country, at least the opposition I hear, is all about the water, and I think secondarily it’s about the power grid that’s local to the region. The generative AI versions of data centers, such as those by Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, these types of data centers use the most resources, but they don’t all have to be built this way.”

A protester holds a sign reading “AI < Literally Everything Else!” during the “No Data Centers, No Secret Deals” demonstration outside the Michigan State Capitol. Participants voiced concerns about prioritizing artificial intelligence infrastructure over community needs and public resources. Photo credit: Valerie Jean, December 16, 2025.

Internet Access & Data Sovereignty

As so often the norm, Tribes and Native people suffer the consequences of technological advances without reaping the benefits. In 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported conservative estimates that nationwide, 18% of people living on tribal lands couldn’t access broadband service, compared to 4% of people in non-tribal areas. Broadband availability includes speeds of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload or greater, excluding satellite service.

The GAO has stated that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has overreported broadband access on tribal lands, as the numbers the FCC shared are self-reported data by broadband carriers. According to Rantanen, carriers will count an entire census block as having coverage if they can hook up one person to broadband. “That is not coverage, affordability, or reality,” Rantanen told The Magazine.

In 2021, the Executive Office of the President in the “U.S.” began coordinating federal tribal broadband efforts, but according to GAO, these efforts “are not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, and performance measures,” and that the American Broadband Initiative (ABI), an intergovernmental agency effort to expand broadband access across the “U.S.,” “lacks a framework for addressing tribal barriers that could also support implementing a national strategy.”

Many Indigenous communities are concerned with cultural appropriation and data theft as a result of AI, as well as outside government intrusion. Tribes are combating some of these issues by producing their own data centers. Rantanen told The Magazine that these centers use low amounts of power and are a way for tribes to control their data. They’ll no longer have to put sensitive information, such as enrollment records, on outside cloud servers that then open their data up for theft, use in training AI, and even subpoenas or snooping by federal agencies like ICE or FBI.

Tribal control over smaller, local data centers could not only potentially improve safety and security for tribal members, but also for the environment. “I think making big blanket statements about data centers can harm some of those smaller, very effective uses of the term,” Rantanen said. But he also warned that tribes need to create policies related to data sovereignty and AI, data storage, and transmission in order to ensure the best practices for their tribe.

This piece first appeared in Crushing Colonialism’s The Magazine.

Jen Deerinwater is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, journalist, and the founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism. Jen is currently a member of the Disability Community Advisory Group for the first of its kind American LGBTQ Museum and serves as a member of the Rooted Together: Building Power through Diasporic Dialogue cohort. Jen is also a member of the board of directors for the Disabled Journalist Association and a Senior Advisor for the Disability Culture Lab. Jesse Deer In Water is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and visitor on Traditional Homelands of The Anishinabek 3 Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Bodewadomi and Odawa peoples in the area known as Wawiyamtanong (“North Redford, MI”). Jesse is a community organizer, a father of three, and friend and family to many, including plants, beings, and elements within this existence.