Elon Musk endorsed "zero water consumption" in NVIDIA data centers: an environmental manifesto from the tech giant
Major technology corporations are increasingly coming under fire for their colossal consumption of natural resources. The focus is on giant data centers that consume vast amounts of electricity and fresh water. However, NVIDIA's leadership has decisively refuted these accusations, presenting a new environmental strategy that Elon Musk unexpectedly publicly supported.
Numbers and Facts: How Much Water Do Data Centers Actually Use?
According to data from the Manhattan Institute for March 2026, cited by NVIDIA itself, data centers in the United States consume only about 0.2% of the country's total fresh water. Moreover, the lion's share of this volume comes not from direct server cooling, but from indirect consumption—the generation of electricity to power them.
NVIDIA's key argument is the transition to closed-loop liquid cooling systems. Unlike outdated air-based systems that lost huge amounts of water through evaporation, modern solutions operate at a stable temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. The liquid circulates inside a sealed circuit, requiring no constant replenishment from the water supply. As stated by Ali Heydari, head of cooling and data center infrastructure at NVIDIA: "Our DSX reference architecture for AI centers does not consume water. We have managed to minimize energy consumption and almost completely eliminate water usage."
In 2025, the company already claimed that Blackwell systems are 300 times more water-efficient than traditional air cooling. Given that up to 40% of a data center's energy goes toward maintaining optimal temperature, such innovations fundamentally change the economics and ecology of the entire industry.
Musk's Support and Hidden Risks
Elon Musk, whose company xAI actively uses clusters based on NVIDIA solutions, publicly endorsed this environmental manifesto. However, behind the loud claims of "zero consumption" lie real regional issues. Direct water consumption by servers in 2023 amounted to 17.4 billion gallons, while indirect needs (energy) already reached 211 billion gallons. Analysts at the Berkeley Lab predict that by 2028, direct consumption will jump to 38-73 billion gallons.
Furthermore, the efficiency of dry radiators heavily depends on the climate: they work excellently in cool states, but their productivity drops sharply in arid desert zones. A telling example is the giant xAI Memphis Colossus computing complex, which daily drew up to 1.3 million gallons of clean drinking water from underground sources. The company also launched dozens of gas turbines before obtaining official permits, sparking a wave of lawsuits from local residents.
Expert opinion from Cryptalist: Musk's support is a powerful PR move, but the AI industry is on the brink of a "water crisis." NVIDIA's technologies indeed reduce direct consumption, but indirect costs and regional constraints remain a serious challenge. Future development will entirely depend on the stringency of environmental oversight by authorities and the willingness of giants like xAI to follow the rules, rather than circumvent them.