Brief

AWS water disclosure gives data-center critics a firmer number, but not the full accounting

A Trellis article says Amazon Web Services disclosed on June 10 that it withdrew 2.5 billion gallons of water for data centers in 2025, the first time AWS published water-withdrawal figures. The same article says withdrawals at AWS owned-and-operated sites fell 2% from 2024 to 2025 and that AWS tracks water usage effectiveness in liters per kilowatt-hour. That gives researchers, customers, and local officials a more concrete starting point for comparing cloud and AI capacity claims with water use, while X News summaries show the wider data-center debate is already focused on transparency, drought-area siting, and local burdens. The evidence is still incomplete because the supplied research pack does not include Amazon’s own disclosure, full methodology, leased-site treatment, or local utility and permit records.

Technology · June 13, 2026

Sources & context

Evidence, open claims, and reader-facing editor notes.

Dek

Amazon’s reported 2.5 billion gallons of data-center water use in 2025 gives researchers a concrete number to test against efficiency claims, local stress, and the company’s water-positive pledge.

Synthesis angle

Investigate whether Amazon’s first water-use disclosure changes accountability for AI-era data-center siting, cooling choices, and local resource burdens.

Source

Amazon Data Centers Used 2.5 Billion Gallons of Water in 2025

Preferred source plan

Amazon 2025 water-use or sustainability disclosure naming data-center water consumption
AWS water stewardship and water-positive 2030 methodology pages
Local water-utility or permit records for major AWS data-center regions
U.S. Geological Survey water-use datasets for comparison baselines
Data Center Coalition or Uptime Institute material on data-center water-use effectiveness
Statements from community or environmental groups in AWS data-center markets

Reading the dossier...