Liquid Death, Jason Kelce Spotlight 460 Million-Gallon Data Center Water Strain as Recycled Use Rises
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Aug 20
Liquid Death, Jason Kelce Spotlight 460 Million-Gallon Data Center Water Strain as Recycled Use Rises
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Aug 20
Summary
Liquid Death and Jason Kelce used a joke ad about peeing on servers to spotlight a real issue: AI data centers consume massive water volumes for cooling, pushing operators toward recycled wastewater.
Experts said untreated urine would foul cooling systems with salts, urea and bacteria, but treated sewage water is already widely reused through filtration, reverse osmosis and UV processing.
Loudoun County, Virginia — home to 250-plus data centers — used about 200 million gallons of recycled water a day in 2025, yet another 260 million gallons still came from potable supplies.
That shift is limited by infrastructure: data centers need large nearby wastewater plants, and rural sites often lack enough treated flow to replace drinking water at scale.
Meta has pledged at least $270 million for wastewater projects, while water-reuse advocates are pushing a 30% tax credit as public concern over data center water use broadens.