Erin Brockovich raises alarm: AI data centers consume water like cities, create heat islands

Activist and attorney Erin Brockovich has sounded the alarm over the growing impact of artificial intelligence data centers, launching an interactive map to track their proliferation across the United States. The platform, brockovichdatacenter.com, allows residents to submit local complaints and has already received over 1,800 reports from 47 states in its first week.

Residents are voicing significant concerns about the environmental and infrastructural strain these centers impose. Key issues raised include excessive energy consumption, substantial water usage, noise pollution, and the generation of electronic waste. The map currently documents 4,000 data centers, with many more under construction, particularly in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

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The pattern is hard to ignore, it is clear that consumption is causing water scarcity.

A striking pattern emerging from the data is the tendency for these centers to be located in or near lower-income communities. Brockovich aims to provide a public platform for communities to voice their anxieties about AI data centers operating, under construction, or proposed in their areas.

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The problem of water is significant. A medium to large data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the consumption of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

Scientists and community activists argue that the massive data centers required to power major tech companies' AI initiatives are creating a host of problems. These include draining local resources, increasing energy demand and utility bills, consuming vast quantities of water, and polluting the environment. The water consumption is particularly alarming, with medium to large data centers potentially using up to five million gallons daily – comparable to the needs of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. This water is primarily used for cooling servers.

In 2023 alone, the indirect water consumption for electricity generation by data centers nationwide was estimated at 211 billion gallons. A recent case in Georgia revealed a data center secretly drawing 29 million gallons through unmetered connections, only discovered after residents experienced low water pressure. While the AI industry has made commitments regarding energy use, water consumption has received far less attention and lacks equivalent accountability, a pattern Brockovich describes as corporate infrastructure quietly consuming communities' most vital resource.

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The pattern is known - corporate infrastructure quietly consumes the most important resource of the community.