Denver data center: 800,000 gallons of water a day?!?

Could a new Denver data center use up to 800,000 gallons of water a day?

The Colorado Sun | Cassis Tingley

June 29, 2026

A single-family home uses roughly 200 gallons of water per day.

YES. Fact Brief:

The developer building a new data center in north Denver said the facility could use up to 805,000 gallons of water each day to cool its computer systems if all three planned buildings are constructed.

A single-family home uses roughly 200 gallons of water per day, according to Denver Water.

The developer, CoreSite, already operates two data centers in downtown Denver. It has faced criticism for lack of community engagement around the new facility, which could span up to 590,000 square feet at East 49th Avenue and Race Street, in a neighborhood with a long history of dangerous pollution. 

Data centers in Denver Water’s service area use less than 1% of the 180 million gallons of water its customers use daily.

In May, Denver passed a yearlong moratorium on new data centers and city officials declared that Denver is experiencing a Stage 1 drought, prompting watering restrictions. 

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