Would you rather eliminate the entire internet, or 8% of American golf courses
A real stumper of a tradeoff
Will Stancil
Read @andymasley.bsky.social for context
"the water all American data centers will consume onsite in 2030 is equivalent to 8% of the water currently consumed by the US golf industry" or "water usage of 260 square miles of irrigated corn farms, equivalent to 1% of America’s total irrigated corn"
Amazon said its global data-center operations withdrew about 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, as data center companies around the world face growing scrutiny over the environmental impact of artificial intelligence.
Brendan Nyhan
on.wsj.com
The company said water use at sites it owns and operates directly fell 2% from 2024 levels, even while it expanded its data-center footprint.
