Water scarcity will add costs for Middle East AI hubs

Significance In aggregate, Israel and leading Arab states plan to spend approximately USD100bn over the next few years to develop data centres to support the AI ecosystem. This will require significant volumes of freshwater -- to cool the systems and produce the energy needed to run the centres -- in a region where water is scarce. Impacts Regional governments can subsidise the high costs of water supply, but these may over time trickle down to AI corporations. AI adoption may lead to an improved adoption of wastewater technology in the Gulf states, adding more water to the countries’ water supply. If seawater is used for cooling energy plants or data centres, the discharge must be carefully managed to avoid environmental damage. Additional water demand for AI may conflict with regional food security strategies and increase the reliance on food imports.