Will data center use only 4 Olympic swimming pools of water per year?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in collaboration with Wisconsin Watch, published a fact brief clarifying the projected water usage of Microsoft's data centers in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The article addresses a claim suggesting the facilities would only consume water equivalent to four Olympic-size pools per year. The fact check reveals that this figure is an underestimation. While the first data center, expected to operate in 2026, is projected to use 2.81 million gallons (approximately four Olympic pools) annually for cooling, this does not account for a second data center under construction or a larger 15-center expansion planned by Microsoft. The City of Racine, which will supply water for the facilities, projects total cooling water usage for all planned data centers to be 8.44 million gallons annually, roughly 12 Olympic pools. Furthermore, these projections do not include the substantial water required to generate electricity to power the data centers. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated in 2024 that 92.5% of water used by U.S. data centers is for electricity generation, with only 7.5% for cooling.