U.S. data centers consumed 449 million gallons of water per day as of 2021, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, while the Environmental Law Institute reports their share of U.S. electricity use has risen from 1.9% in 2018 to 4.4% now, with projections reaching 12% by 2028. Economist Nicholas Muller reported that data centers caused approximately $25 billion in pollution and health-related costs in the U.S. last year. In Tucson, Arizona, a contractor for Beale Infrastructure's Project Blue was caught illegally trucking city water to a 290-acre data center site in May 2026, following the Tucson City Council's 2025 vote against supplying city water to the project; the project has since been approved by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and secured a 10-year energy agreement with Tucson Electric Power. Critics point to gaps in corporate disclosure, noting that Google does not publish a company-wide water-efficiency metric and that Microsoft has not disclosed location-specific water and power data despite stating net-zero commitments.
The Tucson case illustrates how state-level approvals can override local objections, setting a precedent that could affect how other municipalities attempt to block data center development on resource grounds. The widening gap between corporate sustainability disclosures and location-specific resource data makes it difficult for regulators, ratepayers, and communities to assess the actual environmental burden of individual facilities.
A published assessment of whether tech companies are meaningfully reducing AI's environmental damage taps into a major ongoing debate around carbon, water, and energy use at US hyperscaler facilities. The Fulcrum piece appears to offer documented analysis rather than opinion, making it editorially distinct from advocacy pieces.