【文章标题】：US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons 【文章标题】：美国数据中心年用水量增至三倍，达到170亿加仑
【文章正文】： • 5 min read • 阅读时间5分钟
US data centers tripled water use to 17 billion gallons 美国数据中心用水量增至三倍，达到170亿加仑
US data centers consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, with electricity generation accounting for more than 80% of the total. 2023年美国数据中心估计消耗了170亿加仑水，其中发电用水占总量的80%以上。
Source: The Register 来源：The Register
US data centers used an estimated 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, roughly three times their consumption in 2014, according to a Congressional Research Service report published by the Library of Congress. The estimate covers a data-center buildout that was accelerating as demand for generative AI took off. 根据国会图书馆发布的国会研究服务处报告，美国数据中心在2023年估计使用了170亿加仑水，大约是2014年用水量的三倍。这一估计涵盖了一个随着生成式人工智能需求起飞而加速建设的数据中心扩建潮。
The number is not a complete national measurement. The federal government does not systematically track water consumption across the data-center industry, and much of the available information is collected by state and local agencies. Some municipal agreements also restrict disclosure of the rates and volumes charged to individual operators. 这一数字并不是完整的全国性测量结果。联邦政府并未系统性地跟踪数据中心行业的用水情况，许多现有信息由州和地方机构收集。一些市政协议还限制披露向个别运营商收取的费率和水量的信息。
That makes the 17-billion-gallon figure an estimate rather than a facility-by-facility accounting. It also covers more than the water piped directly into server campuses. 这使得170亿加仑的数字只是一个估计值，而不是逐个设施的核算。它涵盖的范围也超过了直接输送到服务器园区的用水。
Electricity is the larger water burden 电力是更大的用水负担
The CRS distinguishes between direct water use, such as cooling equipment at a data center, and indirect water use associated with generating the electricity that powers it. Direct consumption represents a relatively small share of overall US water use—about 2%—but the report says indirect consumption through power generation accounts for more than 80% of a data center’s total water footprint. CRS区分了直接用水（例如数据中心的冷却设备用水）和与发电相关的间接用水（为数据中心供电的电力生产用水）。直接消耗在美国总用水量中所占比例相对较小——约2%——但报告称，通过发电产生的间接消耗占数据中心总水足迹的80%以上。
AI systems are pushing operators toward denser deployments of specialized hardware. New AI halls generally consume more electricity than older server infrastructure, increasing their cooling requirements and the water associated with power production. The CRS data ends in 2023, the year the AI infrastructure boom began in earnest, so the report says consumption may have risen further since then. 人工智能系统正推动运营商更密集地部署专用硬件。新型AI机房通常比旧式服务器基础设施消耗更多电力，从而增加了冷却需求以及与电力生产相关的用水。CRS的数据截至2023年，而这一年AI基础设施热潮才真正开始，因此报告称，自那以后用水量可能进一步上升。
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The numbers also complicate claims that a data center is “waterless” simply because its building avoids evaporative cooling. Replacing on-site water consumption with a more power-intensive cooling design can shift part of the burden to the generation of that electricity rather than eliminate it. 这些数字还使一种说法变得复杂，即数据中心仅仅因为其建筑避免使用蒸发冷却就是“无水”的。用更耗电的冷却设计取代现场用水，可能将部分负担转移到电力生产上，而不是消除它。
Cooling systems trade water for power 冷却系统在水与电之间进行权衡
Data centers can use several cooling approaches, and the choice depends on the facility’s size, location, climate and thermal requirements. Liquid cooling can be more efficient than air cooling, particularly for high-density equipment, but the CRS notes that it may not be cost-effective for smaller campuses. 数据中心可以采用多种冷却方法，选择取决于设施的规模、位置、气候和散热要求。液冷可能比空气冷却更高效，特别是对于高密度设备，但CRS指出，对于较小的园区而言，液冷可能不具备成本效益。
Evaporation-based systems typically use less energy than air-cooled chillers and other waterless systems. Their trade-off is substantial water consumption: evaporation removes heat efficiently, but the consumed water must be continually replaced. Air-cooled systems reduce that direct demand while generally requiring more power. 基于蒸发的系统通常比风冷式冷水机组和其他无水系统消耗更少的能源。它们的代价是大量耗水：蒸发能高效带走热量，但消耗的水必须不断补充。风冷系统减少了这种直接用水需求，但通常需要更多电力。
Operators may source water from municipal drinking-water systems, treated wastewater, surface water or groundwater. Municipal systems supplied 97% of the water used by US data centers in the CRS estimate. That reliance puts data-center expansion in direct competition with other municipal and industrial demands, especially where new campuses are proposed in areas with constrained supplies. 运营商可能从市政饮用水系统、处理过的废水、地表水或地下水中取水。根据CRS的估计，市政系统供应了美国数据中心所用水的97%。这种依赖使数据中心的扩张与其他市政和工业需求形成直接竞争，尤其是在供水紧张地区拟建新园区的情况下。
The issue has reached litigation. A proposed 330 MW California data center is seeking 287 million gallons of water from fallowed farmland, a dispute we reported on in the California farm-water lawsuit. The CRS report does not resolve how individual projects should be allocated water; it instead identifies the lack of consistent data as a barrier to evaluating those decisions. 这一问题已进入诉讼阶段。一个拟建的330兆瓦加州数据中心正寻求从休耕农田获取2.87亿加仑水，我们在加州农田用水诉讼中报道过这一争议。CRS报告并未解决单个项目应如何分配水资源的问题；相反，它指出缺乏一致数据是评估这些决策的障碍。
Federal data remains fragmented 联邦数据仍然零散
Water provision is primarily a state-level responsibility, and reporting requirements differ by jurisdiction. Utilities may report customer usage to state or local agencies when required, but there is no federal assessment that consistently covers every US data center. 供水主要是州一级的责任，报告要求因司法管辖区而异。公用事业公司在需要时可能向州或地方机构报告客户用水情况，但没有一项联邦评估能持续覆盖美国每一个数据中心。
A federally supported effort led by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has produced the United States Water Withdrawals Database. It compiles reported and estimated withdrawals across 42 states, including public-supply, industrial and commercial usage. But its coverage depends on the reporting obligations in each state, so it does not provide a uniform national registry of data-center consumption. 由弗吉尼亚理工学院暨州立大学研究人员领导的一项联邦支持的工作，编制了美国取水量数据库。它汇编了42个州已报告和估算的取水量，包括公共供水、工业和商业用水。但其覆盖范围取决于各州的报告义务，因此它并未提供统一的数据中心用水国家登记册。
The CRS also identifies water-service agreements as a source of opacity. Contracts between operators and municipalities can define usage charges and contain provisions limiting the public release of those details. Without facility-level figures, communities may have difficulty comparing a proposed campus’s water needs with its promised economic or infrastructure benefits. CRS还指出供水服务协议是不透明的一个来源。运营商与市政当局之间的合同可以规定用水费用，并包含限制公开这些细节的条款。如果没有设施层面的数据，社区可能难以将拟建园区的用水需求与其承诺的经济或基础设施效益进行比较。
Legislation is moving slowly 立法进展缓慢
Members of Congress have introdu 国会议员已提出