Data centers are thirsty, and that thirst is growing fast alongside B.C.'s emerging role in Canada's sovereign AI infrastructure push. Telus is developing three new facilities in the province, including a proposed centre near B.C. Place, backed by Ottawa's pledge of $925.6 million over five years. A large data centre can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the daily use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people, and researchers at UC Riverside estimate every 100-word AI prompt consumes about one bottle of water. When the facilities drawing on that water are sitting in one of Canada's most environmentally sensitive regions, the scale is hard to ignore.

The water footprint of a data centre does not stop at its fence line. On-site cooling is only one piece; a significant portion of consumption comes from the power plants supplying the electricity. While B.C. benefits from a relatively clean hydroelectric grid, that grid carries its own water costs, permanently transforming local landscapes and compounding pressure on watersheds already stretched by existing demand. Chip manufacturing adds yet another layer, requiring roughly 1,500 gallons of piped water to produce every 1,000 gallons of usable ultrapure water. By the time a single chip reaches a data centre rack, it has already consumed thousands of gallons.

The good news is that B.C.'s climate and geography offer real advantages for building more responsibly. Cooler temperatures make free cooling viable, closed-loop systems can reduce freshwater use by up to 70%, and immersion cooling dramatically cuts both water and energy consumption. Building sovereign AI infrastructure in B.C. is a genuine economic opportunity, but sovereignty should mean more than physical location and Canadian ownership. It should mean holding these facilities to a standard that reflects what B.C. actually values, starting with the watersheds and communities that would bear the cost if that standard is not met.