On the last weekend of September, protesters crashed a 600-person data center party in Washington, D.C. Multiple outspoken protesters stormed the stage to criticize alleged exorbitant water usage and pollution. Chants included, “You’re killing the world!”

This existential dread is surprisingly common. According to a poll by the Associated Press/ NORC, 47 percent of Americans think data centers do “more to hurt” than help the environment. But the popularity of this data center lie may stop conservation breakthroughs altogether. The dissenters could single-handedly prevent the implementation of revolutionary AI conservation technologies.

The alarmist claim of water use killing the world is a dangerous lie that hides data centers’ actual minimal impacts on nature. Data centers built in the 1960s and 1970s did, indeed, consume more freshwater than today’s proposed data centers due to their open-loop evaporative cooling system. However, the proposed build-outs of data centers have a closed-loop system that keeps water in the system and consumes 70 percent less water than early data centers. In reality, data centers use less water than many (less valuable) staples of American cities and towns. For instance, on average, data centers consume five times less water than golf courses. 

Meanwhile, AI tools hold great promise for helping preserve water, not just expend it. AI algorithms can vastly enhance local governments’ ability to detect leaks, optimize water pressure in pipes, and allocate water efficiently. The city of Tucson,........

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