Tech giant Meta is draining water like there’s no tomorrow. The social media behemoth withdrew a staggering 5.2 billion liters globally in 2023 – their highest ever. Let that sink in. That’s billions with a “b” while some folks can’t even get clean tap water.
Their Clonee facility in Ireland is the worst offender, guzzling 659 million liters in just one year. Fort Worth isn’t far behind at 404 million liters. All this liquid goes toward keeping servers cool and humidity regulated. Because heaven forbid Mark’s servers break a sweat.
Meta’s Water Usage Effectiveness sits at 1.8 liters per kilowatt-hour – industry average, they’ll proudly tell you. Translation: they’re just as wasteful as everyone else. Like cryptocurrency mining operations, these data centers consume massive amounts of resources while providing questionable value to society.
Their massive facilities, spanning up to 250,000 square feet, slurp around 18,000 gallons daily. Microsoft and Google aren’t any better, with their own billion-liter habits. A single data center can devour up to 5 million gallons daily. That’s equivalent to thousands of households or multiple farms, you know, places that actually feed people.
Some water gets treated with chemicals, making it completely unusable for humans or agriculture afterward. Gone forever.
The 635 million gallons Meta consumed in U.S. operations equals what about 6,700 American households use annually. And here’s the kicker – they don’t even need drinking-quality water! Just something clean enough for their precious equipment.
They’re particularly fond of setting up shop in arid regions like Arizona, drawing from public systems and groundwater in places already struggling with water scarcity. Smart move, guys. The company committed to be water positive by 2030, supposedly restoring more water to the environment than it consumes. The company, previously known as Facebook, Inc., underwent a rebranding but clearly didn’t change its environmental impact.
This massive consumption lowers groundwater tables and damages ecosystems. But hey, at least they publish sustainability reports about it now! Too bad their recycling efforts only recover 50-80% of used water – when they bother recycling at all.
Who needs water security when you’ve got Facebook, right?
