Memphis Data Center Will Harness Wastewater for Cooling

An xAI data center in Memphis plans to use wastewater to cool its equipment, a victory for local advocates fighting to preserve the Memphis Sands Aquifer, which is losing water at a rate faster than it is replenished.

As Carl Smith explains in Governing, “There was enough water in the local drinking water supply to satisfy the millions of gallons Colossus needs each day for its cooling towers, but there was another possibility for the long term. The city’s wastewater treatment plant was a neighbor in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park, where Colossus servers worked day and night to set the future course of AI.”

Using wastewater for cooling isn’t a new concept: Amazon has been using wastewater at 20 of its U.S. data centers, and Google says it uses “reclaimed or non-potable” water for cooling at a quarter of its campuses. After making arrangements with the city, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the local water utility, In Memphis, construction began in 2025 on the Colossus Water Recycling Plant. 

According to Smith, “xAI will pay the city for the treated wastewater it receives. The city plant cleans about 40 million gallons a day, far more than the 3 million needed to keep Colossus cool.”

Smith points out that there are limits to the data center’s sustainability: two other Colossus facilities planned for Memphis are too far from the wastewater treatment facility to use it, and their energy consumption will equal that of 1.5 million homes.