Amazon, the world’s largest datacenter operator, has faced scrutiny over the true scale and transparency of its water consumption amid a major expansion fueled by artificial intelligence demands. The company’s datacenters—numbering over 100 active global facilities with many more planned—require vast amounts of water for cooling, a necessity that grows as computational workloads intensify. Leaked internal strategy documents reveal Amazon has deliberately limited public disclosures regarding the full extent of its water use, particularly concerning indirect consumption linked to electricity generation, raising concerns among environmental experts and industry observers.
Unlike competitors such as Microsoft and Google, who publish detailed water use figures for their datacenters, Amazon has historically withheld comprehensive data, citing reputational risks. The company’s cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched a Water Positive campaign in late 2022 committing to “return more water than it uses by 2030,” but this pledge applies solely to AWS operations and excludes broader Amazon water use, which totals approximately 105 billion gallons annually—equivalent to the residential water consumption of nearly one million US households.
Water Use in Datacenters: Primary vs. Secondary Consumption
Datacenters generate immense heat due to the intense processing activities of servers and other hardware. To manage this, many employ water-based cooling systems, which are more energy-efficient than conventional air conditioning but consume significant volumes of water. This “primary water use” involves direct water withdrawals for cooling equipment. However, “secondary water use”—the water consumed by power plants generating electricity to run the datacenters—can be substantially larger but is often excluded from public water accounting.
Amazon’s leaked memo disclosed AWS executives chose to report only the lower primary water use estimate of approximately 7.7 billion gallons per year when setting internal goals and public targets. Accounting for secondary water use would roughly double this figure. The rationale cited was managing reputational risk, as revealing the full scale could invite negative headlines accusing Amazon of obscuring its true environmental footprint.
Experts in environmental science emphasize that excluding secondary water use presents an incomplete picture. Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, has stated it is standard practice to include both primary and secondary water use to accurately reflect datacenter water footprints. This methodological gap complicates efforts to understand the actual water impact of large-scale cloud infrastructure.
Amazon’s Water Positive Campaign and Sustainability Efforts
AWS reports it has achieved 53% progress toward its Water Positive goal, emphasizing water efficiency, sustainable sourcing, reuse, and replenishment initiatives. The division has committed to expanding the use of recycled or treated wastewater for cooling across more than 120 datacenter locations by 2030, up from 20 today. This approach aims to preserve over 530 million gallons of potable water annually in affected communities, primarily in regions such as Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi.
AWS employs advanced water use efficiency measures, including IoT-based real-time monitoring, leak detection, and use of recycled water sources. Energy-efficient cooling designs have led to a 40% improvement in water use effectiveness since 2021, with the average water use per kilowatt-hour decreasing to approximately 0.15 liters, according to internal data. Nevertheless, critics argue that the reliance on water replenishment projects—sometimes framed as offsets—may overstate the environmental benefits. Tyler Farrow, standards manager at the Alliance for Water Stewardship, cautions that replenishment efforts, while valuable, do not directly negate the water consumed by datacenter operations and calling operations “water positive” can be misleading without full transparency.
Opaque Reporting on Indirect and Scope 3 Water Footprints
The leaked documents also reveal Amazon’s reluctance to disclose or set reduction targets for its indirect, or “scope 3,” water footprint. This category encompasses water used across Amazon’s broader supply chain, notably significant agricultural water consumption such as irrigation for cotton in its fashion lines and produce for its Amazon Fresh grocery business. According to the internal analysis, scope 3 indirect water use accounts for roughly 90% of Amazon’s total water footprint, yet remains confidential. AWS leadership avoided establishing explicit goals for this category due to the scale and complexities involved.
Former Amazon water sustainability manager Nathan Wangusi has criticized these practices, alleging the company funds research institutions to create methodologies that obscure rather than clarify its water impact. Amazon has countered these claims, emphasizing that its water use reporting is based on third-party assured utility data and industry-standard practices. The company insists it adheres to credible guidelines expected by its customers and stakeholders.
Broader Industry Context and Technological Implications
Amazon’s water management challenges reflect broader tensions within the rapidly growing hyperscale cloud industry, where rising AI-driven computational demands require more data processing capacity, resulting in increased power and water usage. Data centers are already estimated to consume over 200 billion gallons of water indirectly in the U.S. annually. Innovative cooling technologies and water recycling are critical but face limitations in drought-prone regions, where many new centers are being built.
Industry-wide transparency regarding water footprints, including both direct and indirect usage, remains fragmented, complicating environmental assessments and regulatory oversight. The balance between scaling infrastructure to advance AI innovation and managing finite natural resources poses significant governance challenges for corporations and policymakers alike.
Amazon continues to invest in sustainability while navigating these complexities. Its approach highlights the need for clear methodologies and open disclosure to build trust and ensure that environmental claims around “water positivity” or “water neutral” status are meaningful and verifiable.
For more in-depth analysis of how technology is shaping global resource use, read more on Globally Pulse Technology.
