Every search query, every AI prompt, and every generated image runs through a physical data center that consumes electricity and constantly needs water.

According to research by University of California, Riverside, 40 to 100 average prompts consume about 1 litre of water. Morgan Stanley projects AI-related data centres could consume more than 1 trillion litres annually by 2028, an elevenfold increase from 2024.

Most brands, businesses, and marketing and advertising agencies are yet to reckon with the environmental cost of the digital infrastructure they depend on daily.

As AI demand grows, data center water consumption is no longer a footnote in a sustainability report. The AI environmental impact extends far beyond carbon. It's now a water and human rights crisis.

Why Data Centres Need Water

Data centres generate enormous heat. To keep servers running, they are cooled in two main methods:

• Air cooling: Fans push hot air out. Lower water use, but less efficient at scale.
• Evaporative cooling: Water absorbs heat and evaporates. Highly effective, but withdraws significant volumes of fresh water from local sources.

Most large-scale facilities use evaporative cooling. The water is permanently displaced from the watershed it was drawn from.

Why AI Makes It Worse

Standard computing is one thing. AI energy consumption is a different crisis:

• AI workloads are computationally intense. They run hotter and longer than typical server loads.
• According to The Guardian, big tech companies are planning to grow AI data centers around the world by 78%
• The UN has flagged data centres as having an "unfathomable" water footprint as AI scales up.

The AI infrastructure is expanding fast. The question is - who pays the price?

Why the Third World Pays the Price

Data centers need cheap land, power, and water. Developed nations are increasingly pushing back:

• In South Carolina, a Google facility faced sustained community opposition over groundwater use
• In Memphis, xAI's data centre triggered public alarm over daily withdrawals from ageing public water infrastructure
• European regulators are tightening water disclosure requirements for all new facilities

So big tech looks to developing regions already facing water scarcity:

• Developing regions offer cheaper land, weaker environmental oversight, and governments more willing to grant permits
• Tech giants have 38 active data centres in water-scarce regions globally, with 24 more in development

Communities in these regions are no longer just losing water to local industry. They’re losing it to infrastructure built for users on the other side of the world.

What the Consequences Look Like

• Health and life crises: Intense shortage of potable water would result in a sharp increase in disease, mortality rates, and deteriorating ecosystems.
• Community tension: Local residents and farmers competing with data centers for the same water source.
• Regulatory pressure: Governments increasingly scrutinising water permits and disclosures for local industries.
• Transparency gaps: Water metrics are still inconsistently tracked and disclosed, making it hard for communities and policymakers to assess real impact.

As a digital marketing and advertising agency, Tempest believes that brands and agencies need to drive digital growth in a sustainable manner.

What Can be Done?

It’s still not too late. Better infrastructure choices can be made to ensure that sustainable data centers are adopted for the future:

• Closed-loop cooling systems: Recirculate water rather than evaporating it.
• Immersion cooling: Submerge servers in non-conductive liquid. This method drastically reduces water and energy use.
• Air cooling at scale: Improving efficiency in cooler climates where it's viable.
• Recycled or non-potable water: Use waste water instead of freshwater for cooling.
• Rainwater harvesting: Capture and reuse on-site.
• Renewable energy: Reduces indirect water use from thermal power generation.

The technology for green data centers is available. The gap is in governance and will.

The Bigger Point

Digital growth still lives in the physical world. Every prompt answered, every gigabyte stored, and every model trained has a material cost in energy, land, and water.

As brands, businesses, and consumers push for more AI, faster computation, and a seamless digital experience - the infrastructure behind is already resulting in an environmental and a human rights crisis.

We must collectively demand better regulation from local and global governance, and prioritize quality of life over quality of AI.

Brands become top brands when a top advertising and digital marketing agency puts efforts into a planning strategy and deriving ideas that will flourish with time. Tempest assures the same and hence is regarded as the top advertising and digital marketing agency in Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai.