While energy sourcing is still a hot button issue for data center organizations and providers, water consumption is swiftly a hot topic in the face of record-breaking droughts and worldwide climate change. In 2011, the Green Grid proposed a metric to measure water usage in data centers called the Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), or the ratio between the annual site water usage in liters from data centers. According to the United Nation World Water Development Report 2022, over 50% of the people on the planet are at risk for having no access to clean water year-round.

“Water scarcity is a major issue around the world, and with today’s water positive announcement, we are committing to do our part to help solve this rapidly growing challenge,” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS during today’s announcement from the middle of the Mojave Desert in Las Vegas. “We all need to innovate new ways to help conserve and reuse this precious resource.”