The Hidden Water Geography of U.S. Hyperscale Data Centers in the AI Era
arXiv:2607.02531v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Water use by data centers is routinely reported as a single footprint, but water is consumed through two physically distinct pathways: at the site for cooling and in the power system that generates electricity. We mapped both pathways for 472 U.S. hyperscale facilities by linking facility locations to electricity regions, hydrologic basins, and water-stress data. Under baseline assumptions, operational water consumption totals approximately 300 G