A number of data centers, like Microsoft’s “West US 3” facility in the West Valley, which opened in 2021, are expanding quickly around Arizona.
The citizens of Goodyear, Arizona, USA, are now most concerned about this enormous data center. The water supply of the desert town is allegedly being depleted by the servers held by Microsoft, which handle and store enormous volumes of data, including artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
These data servers produce a lot of heat and need water for cooling because of how much power they consume. Engineers use water-based cooling systems to prevent overheating, but these systems have a large water footprint and raise questions about their sustainability, particularly in areas with limited water resources.
The Atlantic said that Microsoft’s Goodyear facility was created especially for use by Microsoft and ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which has strong Microsoft support. Both businesses have declined to comment on this accusation, the report stated.
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There is no denying that Microsoft was the intended user of the facility, but the environmental effects on the surrounding areas are not being properly taken into account. The Sonoran Desert in Arizona is particularly the most affected area. They are already experiencing water shortage as a result of the Colorado River drying up and lax property development laws. Now, they have to worry about Microsoft’s data facility drying up their water completely.
Over the past few years, the state as a whole has also had to deal with harsh weather, droughts, and high temperatures. Phoenix saw its warmest summer on record last year, with 55 days over 110 degrees, which put a severe strain on the grid.
The Atlantic claims that Microsoft has failed to provide the precise water use statistics for their Goodyear facility.
According to reports, they withheld certain numbers from city records, citing them as “proprietary” data. However, they did offer an estimate, stating that once the third building is finished, it will use 56 million gallons of water annually. According to Times of India, this is comparable to what around 700 local households would consume in the same amount of time.
Arizona was not prepared for this. They accused the corporation for not being transparent about how much water the facility uses.
“We’re going to have to make tough choices in the near future to make sure our state is protected for future generations,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes stated in a statement. “In many situations, allowing another data center to locate in our state is an easy but foolish choice,” she added
Microsoft blames generative AI for a 23% rise in water use and wants to employ AI technologies to identify and manage water supply shortages in Arizona and the Colorado River basin in an effort to lessen the environmental effect.
According to Microsoft, they are always working to make their data centers more sustainable and to be “good neighbors.”
One former employee of Microsoft, however, said to The Atlantic that they were ‘being lazy’ and that there was much more that they could have done.