The amount of water data centers use has been a frequent topic of discussion at the recent coffee and conversations I’ve hosted throughout the district. I’ve looked into this relative to other common uses of water in our state to provide myself with some perspective. I wanted to share that information with you.
| Facility or Activity | Water Usage | Units | Notes |
| Large Data Center – Open Loop Cooling | 5,000,000 | gal/day | |
| 1 acre yielding 200 bushels of corn | 600,000 | gal/acre | Water use is the sum of soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation over the growing season.* |
| Medium Data Center – Open Loop Cooling | 301,000 | gal/day | |
| 18 hole golf course | 256,000 | gal/day | Water use is the sum of soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation. |
| Large Data Center – Closed Loop | 22,000 | gal/day | Human use at the facility for restrooms, cleaning, etc. accounts for most of the daily water usage in a closed loop data center. The initial fill of the system requires ~ 600,000 to 1 million gallons of water. |
| Splash pad – medium sized in public park | 10,500 | gal/day | 6 hours of daily use |
| Other Water Facts | |||
| Item | Water Usage | Units | |
| U.S. national daily usage | 322,000,000,000 | gal/day | That’s 322 billion gallons per day. |
| Gallons of water consumed in the U.S. each day in water bottles | 45,000,000 | gal/day | |
| U.S. family of four – home usage | 400 | gal/day | |
| To make 1 gallon of ethanol | 1,003 | gallons | 1,000 gallons of water to produce 1/3 of a bushel of corn, 2.7 gallons of water used at the ethanol plant to turn 1/3 of a bushel of corn into 1 gallon of ethanol. |
| To make 2 pounds of paper | 397 | gallons |
*This is 90% of the water needed to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members – Matt and Katie – are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you’d like a call back, please let them know!
Email: jana.hughes@leg.ne.gov
Phone: 402-471-2756
Facebook: Senator Jana Hughes
