Data Centre Sustainability: Veolia's Water Crisis Resource
As water scarcity intensifies globally and data centre capacity prepares to triple by 2030, the technology industry confronts a sustainability challenge that could determine its future.
Veolia's newly launched Data Centre Resource 360 suite promises to address this crisis through radical improvements in water positivity, carbon neutrality and circularity.
The French environmental services firm, best known for managing water and waste infrastructure across five continents, held an event in the heart of London on 14 April where it outlined its ambition to transform resource efficiency in the data centre sector.
At the capital's Outernet venue, the firm unveiled its Data Centr3 Resource 360 offering, a suite of services designed to help hyperscalers tackle the mounting water, energy and waste demands threatening to constrain the AI and computing revolution. According to Veolia's estimates, the solution could help operators achieve a reduction in water footprint of up to 75%, energy efficiency improvements of up to 20% and waste recycling rates of up to 95%. Behind these figures sits Hubgrade, Veolia's existing digital platform, which uses AI and predictive analytics to monitor water consumption, energy performance and maintenance operations in real time.
Water scarcity threatens tech expansion
The scale of the sustainability challenge facing the technology sector is substantial and growing more urgent each year.
By 2030, the combined water consumption of data centres and semiconductor manufacturing is expected to equal that of 46 million people, an amount roughly equivalent to the combined populations of the New York, Los Angeles and Paris metropolitan areas. Water scarcity is becoming a more realistic and frightening prospect globally, with its effects already visible around the world, including in the unfolding conflict in the Gulf.
"Water has erupted as a centre of conflict in the Middle East, important as oil, if not more," Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia's CEO says at the event.
Meanwhile, global data centre capacity is projected to nearly triple over the same period, with facility numbers growing at around 11% per year through 2034. The semiconductor industry tells a similar story, with chip manufacturing expected to grow by 26% in 2026 alone, driven in part by a global trend towards domestic manufacturing as countries look to reduce their reliance on trade with traditional electronics powerhouses like China.
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Today, nearly half of all planned or under-construction data centre facilities currently face potential permitting delays, driven primarily by concerns over water consumption and energy use. This regulatory bottleneck represents a critical constraint on expansion that resource efficiency solutions could help overcome.
Carbon neutrality and circularity goals
Veolia's Data Center Resource 360 offering targets three main sustainability objectives: carbon neutrality, water positivity and circularity.
Richard Kirkman, Veolia's newly appointed CEO for Northern Europe, is direct about the economics involved: "Around 50% of the cost of AI infrastructure comes from water and power consumption," he says.
As such, a more efficient approach to resources and energy could cut the cost of running data centres significantly while simultaneously addressing environmental concerns.
"Having innovation deliver that resource efficiency is critical," he says.
The firm is already working with some of the most recognisable names in the world of technology, including Google, AWS, TSMC, Samsung, Intel and Micron, across more than 100 facilities globally. While the critical minerals that go into semiconductors are scarce, water scarcity is increasingly becoming a constraint on technological advancement that demands immediate attention.
Partnerships drive water positivity
One of the most notable aspects of the London event was the presence of Will Hewes, Water Sustainability Lead at AWS, who took part in a panel discussion alongside several of Veolia's leadership team, giving perspective from one of the firm's most important clients.
During the discussion, he outlined AWS's own sustainability commitments, noting that the company has more than 700 carbon-free energy projects worldwide and is actively working to eliminate the use of potable water for cooling across its data centre estate. The firm is also committed to returning more water to communities than it consumes, a cornerstone of water positivity.
"We'll have, in the next couple of years, more than120 data centres around the world using recycled water," he says, adding that AWS has also announced more than 45 water replenishment projects to date.
Tech companies like AWS, however, cannot manage such initiatives without the expertise of specialists in circularity and resource management. "We're really good at operating data centres but we are not water treatment or wastewater treatment operators," Will says. "We have some really complementary skillsets here with Veolia that can help us expand our ability to use recycled, instead of potable, water."
Veolia's practical experience deploying circular economy solutions proves invaluable in such partnerships. "We've got the experience of not only developing new technologies but also that 'deployment magic'. That's often where projects fall down and dreams fall apart," Richard says. "Our mantra is to get the solution on the ground, running quicker, on time and affordably," he says.