Data Centres: The Hidden Cost of the Cloud

Uncovering the Growing Water Footprint of Our Digital World

The modern digital world depends on data centres. Every search, video stream, or AI model runs on servers humming inside temperature-controlled rooms. These facilities have become the backbone of our economy and connectivity, making them critical infrastructure. Yet behind their technical sophistication lies a growing environmental challenge that’s often overlooked, their immense appetite for water. 

While energy efficiency has dominated headlines for years, water use is now emerging as an equally urgent concern. The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence is driving a surge in data-centre construction, and with it, a sharp increase in freshwater consumption for cooling and power generation. The result is a growing strain on local water systems and a rising reputational and regulatory risk for operators. 

Understanding Data Centres’ Water Demand 

Cooling is the heart of the issue. Servers generate huge amounts of heat, and unless that heat is efficiently removed, performance and reliability are compromised. Many facilities rely on evaporative or water-cooled systems, which withdraw large volumes of water to maintain optimal temperatures. 

A typical one-megawatt data centre, a modest size by today’s standards, can use around 25 million litres of water each year for cooling alone. Scaled globally, total consumption runs into hundreds of billions of litres annually. Some projections suggest that by 2030, worldwide water use by data centres could triple as AI workloads and compute demands accelerate. 

What makes this even more concerning is location. Data centres are often sited in regions where land and electricity are cheap, but water may not be abundant. In parts of the western United States, Ireland, the Netherlands and even the UK, communities have started questioning whether new facilities are sustainable when local water resources are already under pressure. 

Even when direct on-site usage seems manageable, indirect water use adds another layer. Most electricity used by data centres still comes from grids powered partly by water-intensive energy generation methods. That means every kilowatt-hour consumed carries an unseen water cost, further amplifying the environmental impact. 

The Emerging Water Risk 

Water scarcity is no longer a distant issue; it’s becoming an operational reality. As global temperatures rise and rainfall patterns shift, competition for freshwater between industrial users, agriculture and local communities is intensifying. 

Data-centre operators, once focused primarily on uptime and energy efficiency, now face a broader set of risks. 

• Operational risk: droughts or local water restrictions can constrain supply or lead to costly retrofits and technology changes. 
• Regulatory risk: national and regional authorities are tightening rules on infrastructure that draws heavily on electricity and water, including planning controls, permitting requirements and mandatory reporting schemes. 
• Reputational risk: facilities that consume large volumes of water in already stressed catchments risk being seen as competing with nearby communities for a limited resource, particularly as AI-related demand accelerates. 

For an industry that depends on reliability and public trust, these are not minor challenges. Water may well become the defining sustainability issue of the next decade for digital infrastructure. 

Regulation and Reporting Are Catching Up 

Across Europe and beyond, the regulatory landscape is shifting from voluntary disclosure to mandatory transparency and performance reporting. 

The recast EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) now requires operators of larger data centres (typically ≥500 kW) to submit annual data on energy performance and sustainability to a European database, including key indicators such as power usage, temperature set points, waste heat use and water footprint. 

In parallel, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is rolling out, requiring large companies in the EU and many multinationals with EU activities to disclose standardised ESG information, including resource use and water impacts, under new European Sustainability Reporting Standards. 

On top of this EU-wide framework, local authorities are tightening planning and permitting rules: 

• In Ireland, national planning policy and regulators now scrutinise grid capacity, environmental impact and water consumption when deciding on new data-centre proposals, with some projects facing legal challenge over climate and resource concerns. 
• In the Netherlands, national and provincial guidelines have restricted hyperscale data centres and emphasise water discharge, cooling and energy efficiency under the Environmental Act, with strict conditions in regions such as Noord-Holland and Amsterdam. 
• All of this pushes operators toward more granular, auditable data on water and energy. That’s exactly where a platform like Twinview becomes strategically valuable. 

How Twinview Helps: Seeing the Whole Picture 

Twinview is a digital-twin platform designed to connect data from across an entire building or asset portfolio, including operational systems, environmental sensors, meters and IoT devices into one unified digital environment. Twinview focuses on bringing clarity, visibility and actionable insight to what is happening right now. 

Applied to a data-centre context, this means connecting information from cooling towers, water meters, pumps, power systems and environmental sensors into a live, interactive model. Operators can see how much water is being withdrawn, where it’s going and how usage patterns relate to energy performance and ambient conditions. 

For instance, a Twinview dashboard could show that one cooling loop consistently consumes more water than others, or that a particular site’s consumption spikes during specific workload patterns. By comparing historical data, facilities managers can identify anomalies such as stuck valves, a faulty pump, or unnoticed drift in tower performance. Over time, this visibility helps facilities: 

• Reduce water waste 
• Optimise maintenance schedules 
• Make informed operational adjustments

The real power of Twinview lies in integration. Data centres are complex systems, part mechanical, part digital, part environmental. Twinview bridges these silos, giving decision-makers a holistic understanding of how systems interact. It allows sustainability, operations and engineering teams to share the same live information, eliminating blind spots and enabling data-driven collaboration. 

Transparency, Accountability, and Communication 

Beyond operational management, there’s a growing need for transparency. Regulators, investors and communities increasingly expect data-centre operators to demonstrate environmental responsibility. Having accurate, accessible data on water use supports ESG reporting and compliance, while also helping to maintain public trust. 

Twinview’s strength in data visualisation and contextual reporting means that operators can present a clear narrative: how much water is being used, how performance is improving and what measures are in place to reduce consumption or increase reuse. This transparency builds confidence and can even accelerate approvals for future projects by showing that environmental stewardship is not an afterthought but a core part of operations. 

Driving Continuous Improvement 

Managing water effectively is not a one-off project; it’s an ongoing process. As data-centre portfolios expand and cooling technologies evolve, the ability to compare sites and track performance over time becomes invaluable. 

Twinview enables that continuous improvement by turning disparate streams of data into a single source of truth. Operators can benchmark performance across multiple facilities by identifying which design or operational practices yield lower water-use intensity, and where further investment will make the biggest impact. 

This data-driven visibility supports better decision-making. For example, identifying that one facility’s water-use per kWh is consistently higher may justify a retrofit, new sensors, or a shift to non-potable water sources. Over months and years, these incremental gains translate into significant resource savings and reduced environmental impact. 

From Risk to Resilience 

The continued growth of data centres is inevitable. The challenge now is to ensure that growth is sustainable. By 2030, global data-centre electricity demand is expected to more than double, and without intervention, water use will rise in parallel. In some regions, the industry could consume more water annually than entire cities. 

However, with better measurement, management and integration of operational data, the sector can decouple performance from environmental harm. Technologies like closed-loop cooling, air-cooled systems and water reuse are emerging, but they all rely on robust operational insight to be effective. 

Twinview’s ability to unify and visualise this insight positions it as an enabling platform for water-resilient data-centre management. It allows operators to understand their real-world performance, detect inefficiencies quickly and engage confidently with stakeholders on sustainability outcomes. In short, it transforms water from a hidden liability into a managed, measurable resource. 

The Future of Responsible Data Infrastructure 

As the digital economy expands, data-centre water consumption will remain under the spotlight. The industry’s future credibility depends not just on how efficiently it uses energy, but on how responsibly it uses every resource, especially water. 

Twinview provides a pathway to that responsibility. By connecting systems, centralising data and giving teams the visibility they need to act, it helps operators move beyond assumptions toward evidence-based water management. And in doing so, it gives the industry the foundation it needs to build more sustainable operations.