Data Centers Use Less Water Than Almond Farms—and Do More Good |
Utah Data Center
Data Centers Use Less Water Than Almond Farms—and Do More Good
Left and right, the arguments against data centers are incredibly weak—and even suspicious.
Robby Soave | 5.20.2026 9:45 AM
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Data centers (Adani Samat/Envato)
Opposition to data centers is all the rage among populists of all stripes. On the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) has proposed a national moratorium on new data center construction; on the right, Tucker Carlson describes them as "dystopian" and "devouring American energy and jobs." In recent days, X has become flooded with images of pristine American forests, plains, beaches, and lakes alongside captions warning that no data center is worth losing this. (The images are often AI-generated, and many of the accounts sharing them are foreign.)
Data center panic is fueled by concerns about electricity and water usage. Many Americans wrongly believe that data centers are driving up their electric bill, even though evidence suggests the exact opposite: Data centers may actually decrease electricity costs for their neighbors. Water use fears are even more unreasonable. Data centers don't actually use all that much water.
For example, a chart comparing data centers' water requirements to almond farms........