Donald Trump ally, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, says data centers ‘don’t use water’ as bipartisan backlash to AI projects continues

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box that data centers “don’t use water,” dismissing growing concerns over their water consumption as propaganda pushed by foreign adversaries.

Asked about bipartisan backlash to AI infrastructure projects, Lutnick laughed off the criticism. “One of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water,” he told CNBC. “The No. 1 product in America that uses water is cattle.” He continued, “I mean, data centers don’t use water. This is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down.”

Lutnick went on to describe data centers as “world class productions” that would “produce huge economics” for communities that host them, arguing that towns that welcome the facilities would ultimately benefit economically while those that resist them would be left behind.

A reversal from his own earlier remarks

Lutnick’s assertion directly contradicts comments he made roughly a year earlier during an appearance on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, when he acknowledged that data centers require substantial amounts of water for cooling.

“These AI things, they suck water and they need water, right?” Lutnick said during the Fox News appearance.

The earlier clip resurfaced online after his CNBC remarks, with MeidasTouch senior digital editor Acyn Torabi drawing attention to the contradiction by posting video of both statements side by side. During the Fox News appearance, Lutnick used the facilities’ water consumption as part of his argument for states to attract data center projects, saying they could create thousands of jobs, including positions to monitor the large volumes of water needed to cool the systems.

Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, wrote on X, “Our government is being run by morons. You can quote me on that.” Former Joe Biden‘s administration aide Jesse Lee posted a similar jab, joking that Lutnick must have been “a Chinese agent” during his earlier appearance on Fox News.

What the data shows

Independent estimates do not support Lutnick’s claim that data centers use no water. According to a 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 66 billion liters of water in 2023, with most of that consumption tied to hyperscale facilities. The report projected that hyperscale data centers alone could consume between 60 billion and 124 billion liters of water in 2028.

Industry estimates point in the same direction. The Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association has said a medium-sized data center might require about 100 million gallons of water a year for cooling, while a large facility could use between 1 million and 5 million gallons per day during peak conditions.

For broader context, total U.S. water withdrawals were estimated at about 322 billion gallons per day in 2015, the most recent year for which the federal government has published comprehensive national water-use estimates. At the time, thermoelectric power generation was the largest category of water withdrawals, followed by irrigation.

Lutnick’s comparison to cattle production does have some factual grounding. Beef cattle production in the United States uses roughly 6 trillion gallons of water annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a far larger volume than the water consumed by U.S. data centers. But that comparison does not support the claim that data centers use no water. Industry groups themselves acknowledge that some data centers consume water, even as they point to newer cooling technologies, including closed-loop systems, that can reduce consumption.

Trump administration’s broader defense of data centers

Lutnick’s remarks came amid a wider effort by the Donald Trump administration to defend data center expansion against growing opposition from both parties. Trump had called on the country to “let Data reign” in a social media post, accusing opponents of data center projects of wanting their communities to remain “backwards and poor.”

In the same Truth Social post, Trump warned that resistance to the facilities would only benefit foreign competitors.

“The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame,” Trump wrote. “China could not be happier with this anti-Data Center movement.”

Public opposition to data centers has not centered on water use alone. Communities have also raised concerns about rising electric bills, noise from the facilities and pollution. A Gallup poll conducted in April found that about half of respondents who opposed data center construction cited concerns about resource impacts, including water, energy, farmland and forests.

Congress moves on legislation

Lutnick’s comments came just ahead of a scheduled hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, titled “Reliable Water in the Digital Age: Examining Legislation to Strengthen Drinking Water Systems and Protect Ratepayers.”

The hearing was set to examine draft legislation known as the Water Cost Accountability Act, which would require data centers to pay for their own water use and infrastructure expansion and disclose where they source their water, according to a committee spokesperson.

Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Kentucky, framed the legislation as a way to protect ratepayers rather than restrict data center growth.

“While data centers consume a fraction of the water of many other industries and have proven that new technologies are actually reducing new water consumption, nonetheless, Americans should have confidence that data center developers are acting responsibly with local water supplies,” Guthrie said in a statement.

The water measure follows an earlier bipartisan action by the same committee. On July 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Ratepayer Protection Act in a 52-0 vote. The legislation would require data centers to bear the full cost of electricity upgrades needed to serve them, after members narrowed the bill’s scope to specifically target data centers.

Separately, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, introduced the Guarding Ratepayers from Increased Demand-costs Savings Act, aimed at addressing similar concerns over the costs associated with rising data center energy demand.