Risk · Water Scarcity
Water Stress by Market
How exposed each data center market is to water scarcity and drought, and what it actually costs to run cooling water there — scarcity and price, side by side.
Confidence
A Directly reported figure
B Estimated / Derived
C Regional inference / indirect estimate
D Not found / insufficient data
Category and score follow WRI Aqueduct's baseline water stress classification above — click for methodology. Water Rate is each market's non-domestic tariff from the public utility rate schedule, in USD per unit — click the unit pill in a table header to switch $/m³ and $/kGal, or hover a rate for its local-currency source.
US markets (14)
14 MARKETS| Market | Category | WRI Score | Key Risk | Confidence | Water Rate | Rate Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix, AZ | Extremely High | 5.0 | Colorado River allocation cuts; basin stress +17%; ~870% growth vs. planned capacity | A | $1.99 | B |
| Denver, CO | Extremely High | 5.0 | South Platte/Colorado basin: depletion also Extremely High (>75%); groundwater declining 2-4 cm/yr — most-stressed major US market. | A | $1.53 | A |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | Extremely High | 4.2 | Trinity River basin (>80% withdrawal ratio); moderate drought risk; competing municipal/agricultural demand. | A | $1.74 | B |
| Minneapolis, MN | High | 3.5 | Upper Mississippi basin — higher than the prior 'abundant supply' assumption; agricultural withdrawal pressure. | A | $1.37 | A |
| Reno, NV | High | 3.1 | Truckee River basin confirms Nevada's arid-state exposure at basin level. | A | $1.16 | A |
| Northern Virginia, VA | Medium-High (seasonal) | 3.0 | Potomac River peak-day shortfall risk by 2030; data center share of WMA supply ~4x by 2035 (8% to 25%) | A | $2.01 | A |
| Atlanta, GA | Medium-High | 3.0 | Chattahoochee basin interstate water disputes (GA/AL/FL); periodic drought | C | $2.18 | A |
| Austin, TX | Medium-High | 2.8 | Colorado River (TX) basin — lower than the prior statewide estimate; moderate drought risk; Hill Country aquifer pressure not captured by the basin score. | A | $1.47 | B |
| Columbus, OH | Medium-High | 2.8 | Scioto River basin — higher than the prior 'Great Lakes abundance' assumption; moderate drought risk. | A | $2.27 | C |
| Boston, MA | Medium-High | 2.2 | Coastal MA/southern New England basin — higher than the prior 'Northeast abundance' assumption. | A | $3.37 | A |
| Silicon Valley, CA | Low-Medium | 1.8 | South SF Bay coastal sub-basin — markedly lower than the prior statewide CA drought estimate; local desal/recycled-water supply offsets basin stress. | A | $3.28 | C |
| Chicago, IL | Low | 1.0 | Great Lakes basin -- abundant surface water supply | B | $1.32 | A |
| New York/New Jersey, NY/NJ/CT | Low | 0.4 | Northern NJ corridor (Newark/Secaucus/Elizabeth); Hudson-Raritan estuary sub-basin confirms abundant supply. | A | $1.07 | B |
| Portland, OR | Low | 0.0 | Willamette River basin confirms Pacific Northwest abundance. | A | $2.88 | A |
International markets (8)
8 MARKETS| Market | Category | WRI Score | Key Risk | Confidence | Water Rate | Rate Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore, Singapore | Extremely High | 5.0 | Water import dependency (Malaysia); +300MW new capacity approved despite constraints; regulatory limits | A | $0.96 | A |
| Sydney, Australia | Medium-High | 2.9 | Country baseline stress; drought exposure; projected to approach High by 2050 | B | $2.06 | A |
| Frankfurt, Germany | Medium-High | 2.0 | Country baseline stress, per WRI classification. | B | $2.79 | B |
| Tokyo, Japan | Low-Medium | 2.0 | Country baseline; typhoon-driven seasonal variability offsets average abundance | B | $1.09 | C |
| Paris, France | Low-Medium | 1.9 | Country baseline; forecast to move into Medium-High by 2025 per WRI projections | B | $1.24 | A |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | Medium | 1.6 | Hyperscale ban (>70MW) and moratorium on new builds -- policy-driven constraint, not pure scarcity | A | $1.27 | A |
| London, UK | Low-Medium | 1.3 | Country baseline; South East England faces the highest sub-national stress in the UK | B | $3.14 | A |
| Dublin, Ireland | Low | 1.0 | Generally abundant national supply; no major WRI-flagged basin stress identified | C | $1.64 | A |