Shaping The Rules Of Engagement Between Water Utilities & Data Center Leaders

With SERG's track record in convening high-stakes water industry initiatives, we know it is essential to bring the water utility segment to the table. The scale of AI-driven data centre build-outs makes utilities not just stakeholders, but co-architects of the region’s long-term water balance. 

Anticipating Stress Points Before Growth Overtakes Capacity

Cooling requires water—an unavoidable fact. For utilities, managing this within competing industrial and municipal demands is a balancing act with direct implications for reliability and trust. Any U.S. water utility serving a region of rapid data centre growth—whether Texas, Arizona, California, or beyond—will face the same test. Data centres, in turn, must secure long-term water commitments in climates where drought cycles are the rule, not the exception.

Across the U.S. and internationally, projects are evaluating wastewater reuse in cooling strategies. AI campuses are exploring integration with existing reclaimed water loops, creating financial and operational models with system-wide impact. 

Zero-water vs. reuse: which path defines the future?

The spectrum now runs from zero-water or near-zero-water cooling technologies to scaled wastewater reuse. 

Each approach carries implications for cost, resilience, and regulatory compliance. 

For utilities, these decisions are not optional—they define the long-term sustainability picture on which communities, financiers, and regulators will judge both industries. 

By engaging now, utilities can ensure that digital expansion enhances, rather than jeopardises, their long-term service mandate.