Water use varies by facility size, cooling technology, climate, and season. Water demand rises in summer, when higher outdoor temperatures make evaporative cooling more work. Cooling technology is the biggest lever: modern air-cooled and closed-loop systems use little to no water once filled, while older evaporative systems use the most.
An Indiana University Water Institute analysis notes that Indiana households collectively use about 493 million gallons of water per day statewide, providing useful context for evaluating data center proposals. For a local example, Amazon’s proposed Hobart complex is planned to use approximately 14 million gallons of water annually – less than 20 Olympic swimming pools.
To learn more, click here to hear from an expert who studies how groundwater moves through underground soil and rock, Megan Fleig → HereÂ