In water-abundant regions, evaporative cooling can appear to be the obvious efficiency choice. In water-stressed basins, the same design may be operationally risky and publicly contentious. Scarcity shifts cooling from a narrow engineering problem to a regional resource decision. Water treatment becomes the mechanism that determines whether a facility can use recycled water safely, increase cycles of concentration, or shift to hybrid heat rejection without compromising reliability. It also shapes exposure to drought restrictions and source-water variability.
References:
UNESCO. (2024). The United Nations world water development report 2024: Water for prosperity and peace. UNESCO. https://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report-2024
Ristic, B., Madani, K., & Makuch, Z. (2015). The water footprint of data centers. Sustainability, 7(8), 11260–11284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su70811260
Siddik, M. A. B., Shehabi, A., & Marston, L. (2021). The environmental footprint of data centers in the United States. Environmental Research Letters, 16(6), 064017. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfba1