Amazon’s data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water last year
Amazon says its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, even as its footprint grew. The company also claims its water use is more efficient than some rivals.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Amazon published annual water-usage data for its data centers for what The Verge says may be the first time, right after Seattle imposed a one-year data center moratorium. The company is presenting the numbers as evidence that its operations are relatively water-efficient, while critics are still focused on the broader resource costs of AI infrastructure.
Amazon says its giant computer warehouses used a lot of water last year, like enough to fill millions of backyard pools. It is also saying its machines may sip water more carefully than some rivals, while people still worry about what all these buildings take from cities.
Analysis
Amazon says its global data center operations consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, and that the rate was 0.12 liters per kilowatt-hour of electricity. The company says that figure fell by 2 percent from 2024 even as operations expanded.
The timing matters. The disclosure came just after Seattle approved a one-year data center moratorium, a move The Verge notes had support from some Amazon employees. That puts Amazon's new reporting into a wider debate about whether AI and cloud growth can keep scaling without stressing local water and power systems.
Amazon is also using the report to argue that its facilities are relatively efficient. In a chart included in the company report, Amazon compares its water use per kilowatt-hour with Microsoft, Google, and Meta, and says those companies used more water per unit of electricity over the last few years. The Verge adds an important caveat: the Google data appears focused on Gemini AI data centers, while Amazon is describing all of its operations.
There are also limits to the disclosure. Amazon says the numbers do not include indirect water use at power plants that supply electricity to its data centers, or water tied to new construction. The company says that about 90 percent of the time it relies on air cooling, and only uses evaporative cooling during the hottest hours on the hottest days. Amazon also claims its centers are seven times more water-efficient than the industry average, citing an adjusted figure from a peer-reviewed paper released last year.
The core takeaway is not that the water issue is settled, but that Amazon is trying to control the narrative with new reporting while the policy and environmental pressure around AI infrastructure keeps rising.
Key points
- Amazon says its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025.
- The company says that was a 2 percent drop from 2024 even as operations expanded.
- Amazon claims its water use per kilowatt-hour is lower than some Big Tech rivals.
- The company does not count indirect water use from power plants or construction.
- The disclosure arrived as Seattle imposed a one-year data center moratorium.
If Amazon's numbers hold up, public reporting could make data-center water use easier to measure and compare across companies. More efficient cooling methods could reduce water use even as computing demand grows.
The report leaves out indirect water use from power plants and construction, so the real footprint could be larger than Amazon's headline number suggests. Local opposition may also grow if communities see data centers as competing with residents and other users for scarce water.
