This week, reports surfaced that a developer trying to build a data center in the Imperial Valley filed a lawsuit earlier this month seeking to use 260 million gallons of water from the Colorado River each year – despite previously stating that the project would not need Colorado River water. 

Food & Water Watch Los Angeles Organizing Manager Andrea Vega released the following statement: 

“At a time where the Colorado River is already under threat from thirsty agribusiness, particularly alfalfa and mega-dairies, and its future remains uncertain due to the states that share the River being unable to decide on how to divide it up we cannot afford to give even one drop of water to data centers. California’s leaders must tackle the AI data center boom head on and institute a moratorium on these water guzzling behemoths before they compound the harms already being done to California’s water future.” 

Food & Water Watch analysis has shown that data centers are an existential threat to our water resources, with estimates revealing that by 2028 AI data centers across the United States could use as much water as 18.5 million households, just for cooling their servers.

This is particularly concerning in the American West, where other industries have been draining the region dry – and the Colorado River along with it.  

• In 2025, California’s alfalfa farms consumed an estimated 538 billion gallons of water.
  • This is equivalent to 38% of California’s Colorado River allocation and could supply the combined populations of Los Angeles and San Diego with water for about 6 and a half years.

• In 2022, California’s 1.7 million mega-dairy cows consumed 55.5 billion gallons of water, a 7% increase from 2017 and the largest total consumption across Basin states.
  • This is enough to supply 3.6 million people with their annual indoor water needs.