Amazon is part of a coalition focused on ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) datacentres use water as efficiently as possible, amid growing concerns about the environmental footprint of compute-intensive server farms.

The online retail giant is joining forces with the Water Environment Federation, The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania and The Leading Utilities of the World organisation to find ways to ensure AI datacentres use water in more sustainable ways.

The group, operating as the Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence, said it is seeking to draw on the combined knowledge of its participants, working in academia, the water industry, utility sectors and tech to ensure AI growth does not come at the expense of the world’s water supplies.

“By maximising efficiency, eliminating unnecessary water use and investing in community-tailored solutions, we can collectively ensure that technological advancement and environmental stewardship will – and must – advance together,” the group said, in a statement.

Its work will also be concerned with using AI to address the issue of water scarcity and insecurity, and the group wants to encourage other companies and research organisations to get involved with its work, too.

“Water utilities worldwide are facing unprecedented challenges from climate change and ageing infrastructure, while simultaneously working to serve communities that depend on reliable, affordable water services,” said Howard Carter, president of The Water Environment Federation.

“The Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence will accelerate innovation by connecting water professionals with AI experts to develop solutions that benefit both sectors, as well as the communities they serve.”

To mark the group’s launch, the Water AI Nexus Center of Excellence has released a roadmap for datacentre operators, detailing how they can minimise their water usage without jeopardising their ability to innovate.  

The group has also set its sights on establishing standards and best practices for water use that can be shared across the data processing industry, and is committing to compiling case studies and research as part of this knowledge-sharing work.

The water usage habits of datacentres is a topic that has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators, industry bodies and environmental lobbyists over the past decade or so.

While many datacentres rely on free air cooling to keep the servers housed in them cool, liquid cooling techniques have also grown in popularity in recent years – particularly in high-performance and compute-intensive environments, where AI workloads are often hosted.  

Beau Schilz, water principal at Amazon.com’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, said the coalition’s work will not only help Amazon achieve its sustainability goals, but other companies, too, as it works to collectively transform water management across the globe.

“We believe responsible innovation means both addressing our water footprint and using technology to solve global water challenges,” he said. “At Amazon, we strive to reduce water use in our operations, which include logistics sites such as fulfilment centres, as well as in our corporate offices and grocery stores.

“We’re also committed to returning more water to communities than we use across our datacentres by 2030 – being a founding leader of the Center of Excellence will help not only Amazon in its goals, but others as well,” said Schilz.

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