Google official says Charleston-area data center used about 776 million gallons in 2024, defends "replenishment" approach

Ben Townsend, Google’s head of infrastructure strategy and sustainability, told the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Wednesday that Google’s data center operations in South Carolina consumed about 776,000,000 gallons of water in 2024 and defended the company’s approach to managing its watershed impacts.

Townsend said Google’s data centers in the state draw primarily from public utilities serving Charleston and that the water sources include Bushey Park Reservoir, the Edisto River, Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie. He said the company also holds a groundwater permit for its Moncks Corner facility, used for "nonstandard operations" such as fire-system needs, and that annual groundwater use has been ‘‘generally less than 11% of the permitted value.’’

Asked how Google cools its facilities, Townsend described the difference between closed-loop liquid cooling and evaporative cooling towers. He explained that closed-loop systems circulate water within equipment but still require an interface to reject heat; many facilities use cooling towers that evaporate a portion of the water, which must then be replaced. "That is correct," he said when a senator asked whether evaporative loss accounts for the 776,000,000-gallon figure.

Townsend said site-level reporting is part of Google’s transparency work: "Beginning in 2023, Google became the first major cloud provider to begin publicly reporting site level water use," he told the panel. He described a company-supported agricultural replenishment program that Google says aims to save roughly 500,000,000 gallons annually across the Carolinas and to support about 20,000 acres of improved irrigation and soil-moisture monitoring.

On the trade-off between water and energy, Townsend said technologies that reduce water consumption often increase energy use (and related emissions or off-site water footprints). "If I use less water, I'm going to use more energy," a senator summarized; Townsend agreed and framed the trade-off as one communities must weigh when deciding local resource priorities.

Townsend told senators Google will not operate in places where hydrological studies indicate the local water resource is not resilient or sustainable and said the company prioritizes partnering with public water utilities. He offered to provide follow-up documentation and said Google is working with the governor's Water SC initiative to bring data and tools to state planning.

The hearing produced follow-up requests from the committee, including written materials about the 20,000-acre replenishment plan, and requests that state agencies return with any studies on local air or noise impacts related to data center siting. The subcommittee did not vote on S.867 and recessed to take additional testimony at a later energy-focused session.