Voters rejected AI data centers over resource concerns. Here's why measuring water usage is hard

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Voters made it clear this week that they want to see limits put on data centers for artificial intelligence, passing 40 of 41 proposed ballot measures that would place restrictions on some of the more than 2,000 new facilities planned for communities around the nation. Water and power top the list of ratepayers' concerns. But calculating how much each data center draws from local resources is an elusive task, with operators typically reporting usage figures companywide instead of site by site. Giant 1-gigawatt AI data centers from the likes of Meta , Google , Amazon and SpaceX can consume up to 10 million gallons of water per day, according to Shaolei Ren, a data center researcher and professor at University of California, Riverside.