U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asserted on Wednesday that data centers "don't use water," even though these facilities consume enormous amounts of water, which has already raised concerns among residents in potential host areas. During an interview, Lutnick stated, "One of the things I hear people say that drives me nuts is they say data centers are going to consume our water. The largest use of water in the United States is cattle." He added, "I mean, data centers don't use water. This is a propaganda line put out by our adversaries in order to slow us down."

However, according to a 2024 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. data centers consumed approximately 66 billion liters of water in 2023, with the majority going to hyperscale data centers. The report projects that hyperscale data centers alone will consume between 60 billion and 124 billion liters of water by 2028. In 2015, total daily water use in the U.S. was estimated at roughly 322 billion gallons, equivalent to more than 400 trillion liters annually. At that time, the U.S. government estimated that power plants were the nation's largest water-consuming industry, followed by irrigation.

Artificial intelligence companies argue that concerns over data center water usage are exaggerated, pointing out that other industries consume far more. Nevertheless, even industry trade associations acknowledge that data centers do consume a certain amount of water. They also emphasize new technologies such as closed-loop cooling systems, which can reduce the water requirements of newly built data centers.

Lutnick's remarks come as the Trump administration has been defending data centers despite growing bipartisan opposition to AI infrastructure. Trump on Monday called for the U.S. to "let data flourish," while criticizing opponents of data centers for wanting their communities to be "backward and poor."

Water consumption is only one of the reasons for public resistance to data centers. Americans have also voiced concerns over high electricity bills, noise, and pollution. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday to review draft legislation addressing data center water consumption.