Artificial Intelligence is transforming industries and daily life, but its environmental cost is raising alarms. A growing body of research suggests that AI may be accelerating the global water crisis. Massive AI data centers, which power tools like ChatGPT, are consuming staggering amounts of clean water—often more than the population of major cities. According to recent findings, answering just 50 questions on ChatGPT can use up to half a liter of water. With nearly 1 billion queries answered daily, the system is estimated to consume around 10 million liters of water every day.
The water is primarily used to cool down the enormous servers running AI programs, as they generate extreme heat. Some cooling methods lead to the evaporation of nearly 80% of the water used. This usage also includes water consumed in generating the electricity needed to power these systems.
Water Crisis Deepens as AI Expansion Continues
Tech giants like Google reported using 37 billion liters of water in 2024 alone, with 29 billion liters evaporated through cooling systems. Experts note that this amount of water could have provided 50 liters per day to every resident of Islamabad for over 18 months.
The United Nations warns that half the world’s population already faces water scarcity. By 2027, the AI sector is projected to consume three times more water than the entire population of Islamabad annually. As AI continues to expand, balancing technological advancement with sustainable resource use is becoming an urgent challenge.
Environmental researchers are now calling for greater transparency and efficiency in AI infrastructure to prevent the technology from worsening the planet’s water crisis.
