Data centres are one of the backbones of Australia's digital economy, powering financial, commerce, healthcare, education, and government services we all depend on.
Our data centres are built, operated, and cooled in different ways. Amazon uses our scale and innovation-focused approach to be responsible water stewards everywhere we operate, with a focus on reducing water use, and increasing efficiency and reuse, while replenishing water in our communities.
So how much water do Amazon data centres use?
The short answer: relatively little.
In Australia, Amazon uses no water to cool its data centres for 95.5 per cent of the year. Instead, we use a free-air cooling system that draws in outside air to cool our servers directly. It is only during the peak summer temperatures that we switch to evaporative cooling, which uses (and reuses) water to remove heat from air. As soon as conditions return to a safe operating range, the system automatically switches back to air cooling. This method saves energy in the process as water's high heat capacity means it removes heat far more efficiently than air alone, reducing demand on local power grids.
There have been many public reports on water usage in data centres, but often the numbers reflect the maximum a facility could theoretically draw under the most extreme conditions, not what it uses day-to-day. Think of it like the parking at a major stadium, built to handle 50,000 fans arriving for a sporting match or a concert, but on most days, it sits nearly empty. Our water infrastructure for data centres is designed in the same way: built to handle peak events, such as a heatwave burst during occasional El Niño summers, but on most days, our data centres draw no water at all.
The industry standard measure of water efficiency is Water Usage Effectiveness, or WUE. AWS's global WUE was 0.12 litres of water per kilowatt-hour, seven times better than the global data centre industry average (0.84 L/kWh). In Australia, we go even further. In 2025, our Sydney Region recorded a WUE of 0.10 L/kWh and our Melbourne Region just 0.06 L/kWh. That’s between eight and 14 times more efficient than the global industry average. Put simply, for every kilowatt-hour of energy used, our Melbourne Region uses about a quarter of a cup of water (Sydney Region is about half a cup). These efficiency results are the result of years of investment in custom cooling technology, smarter systems, and a commitment to minimise water use wherever possible.
Recycled water and smarter infrastructure
We are always looking for ways to do better. We focus on efficiency across all aspects of our infrastructure and strive for the optimal balance of energy and water use.
Our new data centre in western Melbourne will be Victoria's first to run on recycled (reclaimed) water, supplied from Greater Western Water's Melton Recycled Water Plant. Globally, AWS already operates 26 data centres on 100% reclaimed water, more than any other cloud provider, with 130 more contracted worldwide. By using reclaimed water, we reduce pressure on the drinking water supply that serves local communities, helping to keep water costs down for residents.
Giving back more than we take
Amazon has committed to being water positive in our direct data centre operations globally by 2030, and we’re already 75% of the way to that goal. This means we will return more water to communities and the environment than we use in our data centre operations. In 2025, we returned three litres for every four we used. So how do we return water? One way is through water replenishment projects.
Here in Australia, our first water replenishment project is a collaboration with Great Eastern Ranges to restore key areas of the environment in Wollondilly Shire, south of Sydney. The project aims to deliver an additional 32 million litres of water each year to the Sydney catchment, by restoring degraded bushland and stabilising eroded creek banks, so the landscape can better capture, filter, and release rainfall, rather than losing it to runoff and sedimentation. This work will support the recovery of 15 threatened species including the glossy black cockatoo, koala and platypus.
Globally, we’ve announced over 50 water replenishment projects expected to return more than 22 billion litres of water annually for use by local communities. That's enough water to fill 8,800 Olympic swimming pools.
Sustainable infrastructure built for Australia's future
Sustainably-operated data centres aren't just part of Australia's future, they're what will define our position as a global AI leader. We believe data centres should be built and operated sustainably. That means being transparent about how we use resources, investing in efficiency, and giving back to the communities where we operate. That’s why Amazon is investing AU$20 billion into Australia to expand our local data centre infrastructure, following AU$18.9 billion already invested since 2012.
Water is just one part of how we're working to reduce the environmental footprint of our data centres.
Amazon also has an extensive renewable energy strategy in Australia. We recently announced our largest renewable energy investment in the country to date: nine new power purchase agreements adding 430 MW of clean energy to the grid and bringing our total Australian renewable capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt. Since 2020, Amazon has invested an estimated AU$2.8 billion in renewable energy projects across Australia, enough to power the equivalent of more than half a million households annually. These investments are part of Amazon's broader goal of reaching net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040.
We’ll keep updating this blog post with the latest news on how we use water in our data centres. For a handy summary of our environment, community, and economic impact in Australia, see our sustainability fact sheet. We also publicly report our global energy and water efficiency data in our global Sustainability Report, as we believe accountability should come with the territory.
Next up, Why Aussie and Kiwi tech pioneers are betting big on AI.
