The announcement landed amid an increasingly organized, bipartisan movement to block future data center construction. Although data centers have become memetic of the AI revolution, they are a much older component of the digital economy. At base, a data center is just a large server hall that stores and processes data. Data centers consume roughly 17.5 billion gallons of water annually, which is roughly 0.3 percent of the nation’s water supply. The California almond industry, by contrast, consumes 1.3-1.6 trillion gallons annually, or 70-90 times the water used by all U.S. data centers combined.