A cross-sector collaboration has launched the creation of the Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence to minimize water impact in the age of AI, while also applying the problem-solving power of AI to water scarcity and management. The new partnership brings together water utilities, technology companies, and researchers to address the complex relationship between digital infrastructure and water sustainability.
While spearheaded by The Water Environment Federation (WEF), Amazon.com, Inc., The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and The Leading Utilities of the World, organizations across the water and technology sectors are invited to engage in the collaborative effort hosted at the central hub of www.water-ai-nexus.org.
Unveiled during Climate Week NYC, the largest annual climate event in the U.S., the first-of-its-kind Water-AI Nexus will focus on the critical missions of ensuring AI infrastructure uses water efficiently, and that AI is leveraged to solve real-world water problems.
“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,” announced WEF President Howard Carter.
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According to the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a medium-sized AI data centre can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. Larger data centres can each use up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Together, the some 5,426 data centres across the U.S. consume billions of gallons of water annually.
The new Water-AI Nexus will be featured at WEFTEC in Chicago (Sept. 27 – Oct. 1), with three full days of dedicated content, including a media panel with the founding leaders, and panel discussions with industry experts.
For its part, Amazon’s Beau Schilz, a water principal at Amazon Web Services, says the e-commerce giant will strive to reduce water use in operations at fulfillment centers, corporate offices and grocery stores.
“We’re also committed to returning more water to communities than we use across our data centres by 2030,” announced Schilz. “Being a founding leader of the Center of Excellence will help not only Amazon in its goals, but others as well, as we aim to collectively transform water management worldwide.”
Forward looking key initiatives of the Water-AI Nexus include a framework development that establishes best practices for sustainable water use by AI data centres, as well as the creation of standards for water use that can be shared across the data processing industry.
Howard Neukrug, executive director of The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania, says his team “is proud to bring academic expertise to this critical collaboration” through which they hope to influence policy development and “accelerate innovations that address water scarcity while enabling responsible technological advancement,” he stated.
Christopher Gasson, publisher of Global Water Intelligence and founder of Leading Utilities, added that the intersection of water management and artificial intelligence is “a turning point for the sector, both a critical challenge and unprecedented opportunity.”
The Water-AI Nexus will be a vital platform, adds Gasson, where utilities can “directly collaborate with technology innovators to ensure water sustainability isn’t compromised by digital growth.”
