Nearly 70% of Americans oppose building data centers, but golf courses use more than 12 times as much water as data centers.

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The wave of public resistance surrounding data center water usage issues is facing systemic challenges from horizontal data—the scale of water use by golf courses and agriculture far exceeds that of data centers, yet has not triggered an equivalent level of social backlash.

The latest Gallup poll shows that nearly 70% of Americans oppose building data centers in their local communities, and the resistance movement has evolved into a nationwide phenomenon. Some data centers consume as much as 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the daily water usage of more than 16,000 average American households (according to EPA estimates), which has become one of the core triggers of public sentiment.

However, the counter data is equally noteworthy: Even if total U.S. data center water use triples by 2030, their consumption will only account for 8% of all U.S. golf courses, meaning golf courses already use over 12 times as much water as data centers; and total water use for U.S. almond farming is 80 times that of all U.S. data centers.

Amid expectations that hyperscale technology companies will deploy $700 billion in capital expenditures this year to expand data centers, obstacles in permit approval may lead to delays or shelving of nearly half the projects this year. The gap between public pressure and water usage facts has become a key variable affecting the pace of AI infrastructure deployment and investment costs.

Wave of Resistance: 70% of the Public Opposes, Project Delay Risks Rise

The Gallup poll shows about 70% of Americans oppose building data centers in their local communities, driven by multiple overlapping factors: rapidly rising electricity costs, large swathes of agricultural land being converted to industrial-scale AI infrastructure, and concern over local water resources being squeezed.

Meanwhile, the wave of white-collar layoffs triggered by the AI transformation of the tech industry is further intensifying negative public perception. Meta recently announced an increase in AI applications and simultaneously launched a new round of layoffs.

At the capital scale, hyperscale technology companies are expected to deploy $700 billion in capital expenditure this year for the expansion of data centers and core AI infrastructure. However, permit application rejections and other regulatory obstacles could cause nearly half of this year’s data center projects to be delayed or denied, placing substantive pressure on overall industry investment returns.

Water Usage Comparison: The Figures for Golf Courses and Almond Farms

Criticism of data center water usage often lacks horizontal reference points.

Tech media outlet Pirate Wires, citing researcher Andy Masley’s analysis, pointed out: Even if data center water use triples by 2030, it would only amount to 8% of the water used by U.S. golf courses. On that basis, current golf course water use is already more than 12 times that of data centers.

The gap on the agricultural side is even starker. According to data cited by X platform user Smirkley, total water usage for U.S. almond farming is 80 times greater than that of all U.S. data centers combined. Smirkley likened this gap to “comparing an 8-ounce glass of water to a 5-gallon bucket.”

Smirkley further calculated the difference in economic output per unit of water used, and the results are even more striking.

According to his calculation model: Data centers generate approximately $132.28 in economic output per 5 gallons of water (industry revenue of $529.1 billion ÷ 20 billion gallons annual water use × 5); for almond farming in California, the economic output per 5 gallons of water is about $0.0178 (industry output of $5.66 billion ÷ 1.59 trillion gallons annual water use × 5). The difference is about 7,400 times.

The core point of this comparison is: Under the framework of water resource utilization efficiency, there is a significant information asymmetry between the public scrutiny faced by data centers and their actual proportion of water use and economic output per unit. This asymmetry not only affects policy direction, but also directly impacts hyperscale tech companies' location strategies and project construction timelines, thereby influencing the certainty of AI infrastructure investment implementation as a whole.

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