As the AI boom continues, a conversation is ongoing about the rate at which data centres that house this technology utilise power, energy and water.

Water is harnessed within the data centre to ensure servers can operate quickly and efficiently without overheating or downtime. With greater AI demand, water scarcity and sustainability have become more of a cause for conversation.

Ecolab is a global sustainability company that offers water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. It partners with data centres to help reduce industrial water usage and realise water reduction potential.

Capacity spoke with the company’s senior corporate account manager, global data centres, Paul Overbeck, about the impact of water usage in the data centre industry and how Ecolab is helping operators navigate rising thermal and sustainability demands.

How Ecolab supports the data centre industry

Ecolab works directly with hyperscalers, colocation operators, integrators and OEMs to help codify pre-commissioning and operational best practices. Overbeck said this helps to accelerate standardisation of consistent, repeatable approaches that work to reduce risk across the data centre cooling ecosystem.

“Ecolab is focused on helping operators combine pre-commissioning discipline, chemistry expertise and real-time telemetry to make liquid cooling predictable and scalable,” he explained. “Growth areas we see are rack-level monitoring and telemetry deployments, pre-commissioning services (flushing, staged filtration), closed-loop water conservation strategies, and advisory programs that align cooling choices with sustainability targets.”

Taking a broad systems view, Ecolab navigates these challenges with data centres by starting with site selection and available water resources. Then, the company designs the right cooling topology for that specific location and implements commissioning protocols to prevent day-one issues, in addition to continuous real-time monitoring to keep systems performing well.

“The objective is practical outcomes with fewer interventions, optimised energy and water use, and predictable capacity growth,” Overbeck said.

Harnessing the power of technology

Part of this collaboration is with the Open Compute Project, a community focused on redesigning hardware technology to support the growing demands on compute infrastructure.

“We’re working to standardise pre-commissioning steps, cleanliness acceptance criteria, and instrumentation practices for the industry as a whole,” Overbeck added. “That collaboration is helping us create repeatable checklists and measurable handover criteria so operators can deploy liquid cooling at scale with consistent sustainability and reliability outcomes.”

Likewise, Ecolab’s 3D TRASAR technology plays a strong role in the company’s work to protect high-value computing assets. It provides real-time visibility into key coolant health indicators, including pH, conductivity, turbidity, glycol concentration and temperature.

“That minute-by-minute view converts what was once occasional lab checks into an early-warning system, helping teams detect drift or contamination quickly and take action before an upset escalates to become a major problem,” Overbeck explained.

How AI creates impact

It is no secret that AI workloads have changed the data centre game. The disruptive technology drives higher rack power densities and heat loads, meaning that cooling has become even more of an operational priority.

Last year, researchers at UC Riverside estimated that data centres could withdraw more than one trillion gallons of fresh water annually by 2027. Forward-thinking water management is key for resilience, as Overbeck explained how operators must now think strategically about how to manage heat within the data centre effectively and efficiently.

“The smartest designs balance both sides of the water-energy nexus, choosing cooling architectures and operating practices that support a data centre’s compute capacity while minimising their overall environmental impact,” he said.

When it comes to commissioning, Overbeck argued that operators are treating it as an afterthought – leading to system cleanliness being under-engineered, insufficient staged filtration and low-velocity flushing, leaving test water stagnant after hydrotests and not documenting “procedure water” specs.

He told us: “These gaps easily lead to chemistry drift, biofilm, or particulates that clog cold plates and create early failures. All of that is avoidable with a solid commissioning plan.”

Data centre water management: The next steps

Beyond day-to-day operations, Overbeck suggested that data centre executives should think carefully about water management across all parts of the data centre process.

“Start at the site: evaluate local water availability, source quality, regulatory constraints and the carbon intensity of local power. Design cooling architectures (air, hybrid, D2C) to fit those conditions and plan for reuse, containment and side-stream treatment where possible,” he said.

“Early decisions such as site selection, return-temperature targets and wastewater handling plans have a genuine impact on both sustainability metrics and long-term operating cost.”

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