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43% of the water used to cool AI data centers comes from reclaimed wastewater; Meta pledges $270 million toward wastewater treatment investments. 2026-08-20 19:57:57 Key takeaways. * Meta commits to invest at least $270 million in wastewater treatment infrastructure around data centers. * Loudoun County data centers currently use reclaimed water for only 43% of total daily water consumption. * Corporate funding from data center operators can serve as an "anchor point" for expanding local water infrastructure development. Dr. Greta Zornes, head of CDM Smith's water reuse business, said demand for using recycled water to cool AI data centers has grown explosively in recent years. According to publicly available data from Loudoun Water, recycled water accounts for only 43% of the daily water consumption of local data centers. Meta announced that it will invest at least $270 million in wastewater treatment infrastructure around its data centers. The technology path from wastewater to cooling water: three stages explained - Membrane bioreactors, Reverse Osmosis, and UV Disinfection. Water flushed down toilets flows into the sewer system as wastewater. Water treatment plants then take over the process, ultimately converting it into recycled water that meets industrial water-quality standards before it enters a data center's evaporative cooling system. Evaporative cooling works by allowing hot air to pass over water, with evaporation carrying away the heat. Can wastewater be used directly for cooling? No - untreated wastewater contains salts, urea, bacteria, and various organic compounds that can leave mineral deposits in cooling systems, causing equipment blockages and requiring frequent cleaning. The main technical steps for converting wastewater into usable recycled water are as follows: Membrane Bioreactor (MBR): Uses ultrafine membranes instead of traditional sedimentation tanks to filter impurities and microorganisms directly from wastewater, serving as the first highly efficient purification step Reverse Osmosis (RO): Uses high pressure to force water molecules through a membrane that allows primarily water to pass while blocking salts and other impurities, producing cleaner water Ultraviolet Disinfection (UV): Eliminates residual pathogens in the water, ensuring that the treated water meets sanitation standards Final Output: Recycled water that meets industrial water-quality standards; with specific treatment processes, it can reach a quality level suitable for direct drinking Infrastructure bottleneck: distance from the wastewater treatment plant determines recycled water availability, and construction takes years. Loudoun County, Virginia, is one of the regions with the highest data center density in the world, yet its recycled water utilization rate remains only 43%, clearly illustrating the bottleneck in infrastructure supply. Dr. Zornes said that whether a data center can use recycled water ultimately depends on whether a sufficiently large wastewater treatment plant is located nearby. If a data center is sited in a rural area, local wastewater treatment plants are often too small to provide the required volume of water. The real bottleneck is time: a great deal of infrastructure needs to be built, and it often does not yet exist. Simply constructing it takes several years. From a positive perspective, Obradovitch said that funding from the AI industry could become a driving force behind the expansion of water treatment infrastructure, with data centers serving as "anchors" for water infrastructure. Meta has committed to investing at least $270 million in wastewater treatment facilities around its data centers, even as its Reality Labs division continues to lose about $4 billion per quarter. Pigott is also promoting legislation that would provide a 30% tax credit to accelerate corporate investment in expanding recycled water infrastructure. Faq. Why do AI data centers choose recycled water instead of regular tap water? Compared with tap water, recycled water - reclaimed and reused wastewater - can reduce the pressure data centers place on municipal water supply systems, especially in water-intensive regions. Dr. Greta Zornes said that various industries have used recycled water for cooling for decades, while data centers are an emerging application where demand has grown explosively only in recent years. This reduces the impact on municipal water resources and also helps lower operating costs. What is the current status of recycled water use by data centers in Loudoun County? According to publicly available data from Loudoun Water, the more than 250 data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, use recycled water for only 43% of their daily total water consumption, while the remaining 57% still relies on the municipal potable water system. In addition, the area is planning to build at least 24 more data centers, and pressure to increase recycled water utilization continues to grow. What type of project is Meta's committed $270 million wastewater infrastructure investment? Meta announced that it will invest at least $270 million in wastewater treatment infrastructure around its data centers to increase the recycled water supply capacity in surrounding areas. Michael Obradovitch said that funding from data center companies could serve as an "anchor" for upgrading local water infrastructure, and that many companies have already committed to helping local governments resolve related challenges. 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Meta has launched Pocket, a new social app that lets users create interactive content through text prompts. The app, which began testing in July, transforms ideas into mini-games and memes that can be shared on a vertical feed. Users interact with posts called "gizmos" by dragging, drawing, or tapping on the screen. Creating content is simple: type a prompt, and the app generates an interactive post within seconds. Users can fine-tune outputs by adjusting prompts, visuals, and music, or remix others' creations. The app was developed by the team behind Gizmo from Atma Sciences Inc., which Meta hired in March. Pocket runs on Meta's Muse Spark model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. The launch is part of Meta's expanding app strategy, following Threads' success. Whilst no advertisements currently appear on Pocket, the platform could eventually support interactive branded content.

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