--- title: Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf... description: Kevin O'Leary has publicly compared data centre water usage to golf courses, claiming data centres use far less water. While technically true today — US golf... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/kevin-o-leary-says-data-centres-use-less-water-than-golf-courses-the-numbers-are-more-complicated--r9pungmdm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf courses. The numbers are more complicated. | daily.dev og:description: Kevin O'Leary has publicly compared data centre water usage to golf courses, claiming data centres use far less water. While technically true today — US golf... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/kevin-o-leary-says-data-centres-use-less-water-than-golf-courses-the-numbers-are-more-complicated--r9pungmdm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/r9PunGMDM.png og:image:alt: Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf courses. The numbers are more complicated. og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf courses. The numbers are more complicated. **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Kevin O'Leary has publicly compared data centre water usage to golf courses, claiming data centres use far less water. While technically true today — US golf courses use 2.08 billion gallons per day versus 449 million for data centres — the comparison obscures a critical trend: golf course water use is flat or declining, while data centre demand is on an exponential growth curve driven by AI workloads. Projections suggest data centres could surpass golf course water consumption by 2026–2027, reaching roughly 590 billion gallons by 2028. The context involves O'Leary's controversial 40,000-acre Stratos data centre project in Utah near the already-shrinking Great Salt Lake, which prompted a governor's executive order and community protests. Critics argue the golf comparison is a misleading deflection that ignores local water stress and ecological impact. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Do data centres actually use less water than golf courses in the US? Yes, currently. US golf courses use about 2.08 billion gallons of water per day for irrigation, according to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, while US data centres use roughly 449 million gallons per day for cooling, per the Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association—a 4.6x gap in golf's favor today. However, golf's usage is flat or declining while data centre water demand is rising exponentially, projected to reach about 590 billion gallons by 2028 versus golf's flat 425 billion gallons. _Anyone weighing AI infrastructure's environmental tradeoffs can follow the data centre water debate on daily.dev._ ### Why did Kevin O'Leary scale back the Stratos data centre project in Utah? O'Leary reduced the Stratos data centre project's footprint by 75%, from 40,000 acres to 10,000 acres, after receiving a letter from the Republican state senate leader. The project, sited next to the already-shrinking Great Salt Lake, had sparked protests and prompted Utah's governor to sign an executive order in May setting new development standards; a second water rights application for the project was also withdrawn that month. _Readers tracking large-scale data centre siting disputes can follow developments like Stratos on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from](https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI datacenters may gulp NYC's daily water supply at peak](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-datacenters-may-gulp-nyc-s-daily-water-supply-at-peak-klhtc8ad3) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The AI water issue is fake](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake-6vkr90ea4) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [AI Water Use Distractions and Lessons for California](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-water-use-distractions-and-lessons-for-california-jekspdb4h) · Hacker News · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Nvidia wants to cut data center water use, but that’s not the same as fixing AI’s water problem](https://daily.dev/posts/nvidia-wants-to-cut-data-center-water-use-but-that-s-not-the-same-as-fixing-ai-s-water-problem-n3wyfnnpl) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#sustainability](https://daily.dev/tags/sustainability) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/kevin-o-leary-says-data-centres-use-less-water-than-golf-courses-the-numbers-are-more-complicated--r9pungmdm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf courses. 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