“We’re just one of dozens of players in the space,” Google’s global head of infrastructure and sustainability Ben Townsend told The Verge in an interview. “We think it’s really important to sort of put a blueprint out there that communities can reference, so if somebody else comes and says, ‘we’d like to build a data center there,’ a community can say, ‘well, here are five different things that really put the community and the watershed first. Are you doing these? Are you doing one of them? All of them? None of them? And if not, why?’”

The commitments come amid growing opposition to the rapid data center buildout helping to power the extensive energy needs of AI. Google parent company Alphabet recently said it wants to raise $80 billion from stock sales to fund its buildout for the technology. A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70 percent of Americans oppose the idea of a data center being built in their area. Half of the respondents cited data centers’ impact on environmental resources as a motivator behind their opposition, including 18 percent who cited excess water use as an issue.

A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70 percent of Americans oppose the idea of a data center being built in their area

AI data centers require vast amounts of water for cooling, with a recent study finding that the technology used as much water annually as people drink from water bottles worldwide. Google’s prior estimates of its own water use for AI have been misleading, according to some researchers, who say they omit indirect water usage. The widespread resource concerns have driven a wave of commitments across the industry to limit water usage and prevent data centers from driving up consumer energy prices.