Ireland’s Data Centre Water Use Doubled During Summer Heatwave

Public Supply Usage Reaches 999 Million Litres in 2025

Data centres connected to Ireland’s public water supply consumed more than 999 million litres last year, a notable increase from the 752 million litres recorded in 2024, according to figures examined by The Journal Investigates. Over the past two years, at least 1.7 billion litres of water have been used by data centres from the public supply.

The reported usage is enough water to fill roughly 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or to match the annual water consumption of approximately 20,500 people—comparable to the population of Sligo Town. However, because only the largest facilities are mandated to report consumption metrics to the EPA, total industry water usage across the state is likely higher.

Meta and Equinix Account for the Vast Majority of Consumption

The heavy water draw is concentrated heavily within just two major facilities. Meta’s campus in Clonee, County Meath, and Equinix’s campus in Dublin accounted for more than 954 million litres combined last year.

Meta’s campus used 556 million litres, while Equinix used 398 million litres, alongside more than a million litres of recycled water. The remaining 44 million litres were distributed across campuses operated by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, where typical annual usage ranged from one to four million litres per facility.

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the company’s water consumption figures, while a representative for Equinix did not respond to requests for comment from The Journal Investigates.

Context Within Ireland’s Broader Water Network

The concentration of high-capacity computing infrastructure in the Greater Dublin area has repeatedly sparked public debate, particularly during summer months when national hosepipe bans are implemented by utility providers. Despite public scrutiny over tech sector resource demands, utility provider Uisce Éireann stated last week that data centres are not primary drivers of network strain.

According to Uisce Éireann, data centres account for less than 0.3% of total water supplied across the public network, maintaining that modern facilities utilize relatively small volumes and do not universally rely on municipal pipelines. Assessments indicate that industrial water demands in other sectors, notably the pharmaceutical industry, exceed the volumes drawn by data centres.