Amazon states that its data centers worldwide use significantly less water for cooling than the industry average. According to figures published by the company, water consumption in 2025 stood at 0.12 liters per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed. This would make Amazon approximately seven times more water-efficient than the industry average of 0.84 liters per kilowatt-hour cited by the company.
The publication fits into a broader discussion about the impact of AI on energy and water consumption. As hyperscalers invest billions in new AI data centers, attention is also growing regarding the use of natural resources. According to NetworkWorld, major cloud providers are therefore increasingly trying to distinguish themselves with figures on sustainability and efficiency.
According to Amazon, outdoor air is used to cool servers approximately 90 percent of the time. Only during hot periods do data centers switch to evaporative cooling. In this process, the company uses water to lower the temperature of the intake air.
The company claims that this approach requires less electricity than traditional cooling systems. According to Amazon, mechanical cooling systems consume 25 to 35 percent more power. As a result, the company chooses to use limited amounts of water during peak temperatures rather than drawing additional electricity from a power grid that is often already heavily burdened.
In addition, Amazon has raised the temperature limits within which servers can operate in recent years. As a result, supplemental cooling needs to be used less frequently. After several years of testing, Amazon only uses supplemental water cooling when the outside temperature exceeds approximately 29 degrees Celsius. In Northern Virginia, one of the largest AWS regions, this is said to have led to a 42 percent annual reduction in water consumption.
Comparison with other hyperscalers
Amazon also presented a comparison with other major cloud providers. According to the published figures, the company’s Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) improved from 0.25 liters per kilowatt-hour in 2021 to 0.12 liters in 2025.
Amazon also compared its own figures with publicly available sustainability reports from other hyperscalers. According to that comparison, Microsoft reached 0.27 liters of water per kWh in 2025, while Meta was around 0.20 liters per kWh. Google reported higher values in recent years. The comparison should, however, be interpreted with some caution, as companies do not all use the same definitions and reporting methods for water use and water efficiency.
Market researcher Sanchit Vir Gogia of Greyhound Research told NetworkWorld that water efficiency is increasingly becoming a competitive factor for hyperscalers. According to him, the competition is no longer solely about performance, capacity, and price, but also about how sustainably the rapidly growing AI infrastructure can be operated.
Amazon also reiterated its goal of becoming “water-positive” by 2030. This means the company aims to return more water to local water systems than it withdraws through its operations.
According to Amazon, its global data center operations consumed approximately 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025, equivalent to over 9.4 billion liters. The company says it has now launched more than fifty projects designed to return water to local ecosystems, including through water storage, irrigation improvements, and watershed restoration.
In addition, Amazon is increasingly using treated wastewater for cooling. The company reports that 26 locations now operate entirely on reused water and that similar facilities are planned for more than a hundred other locations. According to Amazon, contracts have already been signed worldwide for 130 additional facilities that will use treated wastewater.
Growing Focus on Water Use
The discussion about water consumption is becoming increasingly important as the demand for AI capacity grows. While attention has long focused primarily on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, policymakers and researchers are increasingly looking at the impact of data centers on local water sources.
Especially in areas with water scarcity, the choice of cooling systems can become a key factor in granting permits for new data centers. At the same time, operators point out that water usage often must be weighed against the higher electricity consumption of alternative cooling technologies.