The company laid out the goal in a new set of water stewardship commitments this week.

Google has announced a new set of water stewardship commitments for the communities that host its data centers. Chief among them is a pledge to replenish more water than its data centers consume by 2030, alongside efforts to modernize water infrastructure and to work with local communities and organizations on water stewardship projects.

“Once these projects are fully implemented, they are expected to replenish more than 19 billion gallons of water annually by 2030, more than double our 2024 consumption (enough water to supply the entire city of Los Angeles for more than 40 days),” Google said in a blog post announcing the commitments. The company says it replenished more than 7 billion gallons in 2025, so its 2030 goal would nearly triple that.

In its announcement, Google says, “U.S. data centers use less than 1% of the water that Americans use on their lawns annually.” However, along with the electricity data centers use, water usage has become one of the most contentious issues surrounding data centers in communities around the country. Data centers can use millions of gallons of water annually, and there are now thousands of them across the country — a number that’s growing quickly as tech companies continue to build out AI infrastructure.

Google says that in addition to moving toward replenishing more water than its data centers consume, it will continue to invest in modernizing water infrastructure where they operate. To date, the company says it has “committed over $500 million to the development of water, wastewater and water reuse infrastructure and to the utility partners that deliver water in the communities where we operate/build data centers.”

The company also says it’s committing another $17 million to water stewardship projects in Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas. That’s in addition to transparent reporting around its water use and pursuing freshwater alternatives, such as using reclaimed wastewater.

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/gemini/article/google-commits-to-replacing-more-water-than-its-data-centers-use-by-2030-155043309.html