Microsoft Wisconsin Data Center Uses About as Much Water as a Restaurant

MOUNT PLEASANT, WISCONSIN (VINnews) — Microsoft says its new data center in Mount Pleasant is projected to use about as much water this year as a typical restaurant, a figure the company is citing as local and state officials weigh limits on new data-center construction.

The facility uses a closed-loop cooling system that is filled once and then recycles water rather than drawing a constant supply from municipal sources. After that initial fill, ongoing water demand is limited mainly to restrooms, kitchens and other building uses, Microsoft said.

Company figures show water-use intensity across its data centers has fallen nearly 90 percent since the early 2000s. Microsoft has said newer designs have largely eliminated the high freshwater withdrawals associated with older evaporative cooling plants.

City of Racine records released last year projected first-phase water use of about 2.8 million gallons in 2026, with later expansion of the Mount Pleasant campuses potentially reaching as much as 8.4 million gallons a year. Microsoft has said those volumes remain far below the daily withdrawals of older, open-loop data centers, which can run into the millions of gallons per day.

The announcement comes as communities in Wisconsin and other states push to slow or pause new data-center projects over power and water concerns. Prediction markets recently put the chance that any U.S. state will enact a data-center moratorium by the end of 2026 at about 69 percent.

Microsoft says the Mount Pleasant design shows that large AI campuses can operate with far less ongoing water use than earlier generations of plants. Critics counter that the overall scale of planned facilities, including electricity demand and full-campus buildouts, continues to drive regulatory debate.