Data Centers Turn to Recycled Wastewater for Cooling
A satirical ad campaign by Liquid Death has spotlighted the very real, rapidly growing industry practice of using recycled wastewater to cool resource-intensive AI data centers.
A humorous marketing campaign by beverage brands Liquid Death and Garage Beer, featuring former NFL player Jason Kelce, jokingly proposed using human urine to cool overheating artificial intelligence servers. While the premise is comedic, industry experts note that recycled wastewater—which includes treated sewage and urine—is becoming a critical resource for the data center industry. To make wastewater safe for industrial cooling, treatment facilities process it using advanced methods such as membrane bioreactors, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light.
The demand for cooling water is massive, particularly in major tech hubs. In Loudoun County, Virginia, which hosts more than 250 data centers and has plans to build at least another two dozen, water consumption is staggering. As of 2025, data centers in the county used approximately 200 million gallons of recycled water daily. However, this recycled supply only covers 43 percent of their total daily water needs. The remaining 57 percent, equivalent to 260 million gallons per day, must be drawn from local potable drinking water supplies.
Transitioning to recycled water requires significant infrastructure that rural areas often lack. To address this, some tech giants are funding local utility upgrades. Meta, for instance, plans to invest at least $270 million in wastewater infrastructure projects near its data center facilities. On the policy front, Bruno Pigott of the WateReuse Association is pushing for legislative relief, advocating for a 30 percent tax credit to help various industries scale up their recycled water infrastructure.
The environmental footprint of these facilities has sparked widespread public concern. A recent Gallup poll revealed that approximately seven out of 10 Americans oppose having data centers built in their local communities. While the Liquid Death commercial presents a crude solution, experts believe the viral campaign serves as a helpful tool to educate the public on the urgent water management challenges facing the AI sector.
This is our own summary of reporting by TechCrunch AI
