Water is life. Don’t let AI take our wateR
The AI water drain affects all of us
AI data centres consume staggering amounts of water for cooling. AI’s global water footprint already exceeds 560 billion litres per year and could reach 4.2 trillion to 6.6 trillion litres per year by 2027.
Data centre development is occurring on Indigenous lands and waters with no meaningful consultation on impacts to treaty rights or Title obligations under UNDRIP. Provincial oversight is inconsistent. Impacts on Indigenous rights and Title remain unaddressed, undermining treaty obligations and community planning.
Canada has no national policy requiring data centres to disclose their water use. The Canada Water Agency (CWA) — which Council of Canadian supporters fought to create — faces significant budget cuts and doesn’t have the enforcement powers to regulate AI data centres.
High-stakes lobbying is ramping up to ensure the new Canada Water Agency lacks the regulatory and enforcement powers that would protect water over industry profits.
British Columbia: Bell Canada is building a six-facility data centre “supercluster” in a province facing record-low precipitation and a severe drought forecast for summer 2026.
Alberta: The provincial government’s AI Data Centre Strategy targets $100 billion in investment over five years — in a province already grappling with coal-driven water contamination and aquifer stress.
Saskatchewan: One of the primary hotspots for new data centre development. Operators have publicly claimed their facilities will not draw from municipal water supplies — but independent scrutiny reveals those claims are false.
Ontario: Over 340 Canadian data centres operate in the Great Lakes basin. The Alliance for the Great Lakes has warned that, without regulation, current growth trajectories could significantly deplete regional groundwater.
Quebec: Hydroelectric resources are being redirected to power data centre expansion — raising questions about long-term sustainability and the diversion of publicly owned energy to private, largely unaccountable operators.
Atlantic Canada: New data centres are being proposed with minimal community consultation, and local opposition is growing.
AI technology has tremendous potential for science and research — but it is growing far faster than any governance framework can keep up with. It is not anti-technology to say that someone needs to be in charge. And right now, no one is.
Demand regulation for Big Tech
We must implement guardrails, regulations, and accountability for the Big Tech industry — before our water runs dry.
This is not anti-technology. It’s pro-accountability. We are not asking governments to halt the digital economy. We are asking them to govern it through concrete legal frameworks, mandatory oversight, and real community consent.
Big Tech billionaires will never choose to do the right thing on their own. We have to make them — through regulation.
The solutions are here — they just need to be implemented
The solutions to excessive water use by AI data centres already exist. But Big Tech refuses to use them.
1. Closed-loop cooling systems can reduce water consumption by up to 95% compared to traditional evaporative cooling. They exist — but operators consistently choose the cheaper, water-intensive option instead.
3. Water recycling infrastructure can substitute wastewater or captured stormwater for potable water in cooling systems — a meaningful reduction, but only if the law requires it.
2. Air cooling leverages Canada’s cold climate to cool servers without water. It works. It is available. It just requires a government mandate to become standard practice.
4. Legal disclosure frameworks already exist in other jurisdictions — operators can be required to report usage, meet efficiency benchmarks, and plan for community water security. Canada has chosen not to act.
The technology is available. The political will is absent. Billionaires won’t choose our communities over their profits. That is the problem we are solving — through regulation.
