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The GCC’s Journey Towards Water Security

World Bank | Water Use

The GCC’s Journey Towards Water Security

“Thanks to innovation driven by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, notably advancements in membrane technologies and energy efficiency, the price of desalinated water has plummeted from US$5.00 per cubic meter in the 1980s to as low as US$0.40-0.50 in recent projects. This is making desalination increasingly affordable for countries worldwide.

Beyond desalination, the GCC countries are implementing diversified water management strategies to manage water demand. One of the most important areas is the reduction of ‘non-revenue water’ (NRW) — physical and commercial losses of water.”

From World Bank.

Amazon News | Water Use

Amazon Data Centers 7X More Water-Efficient than Average

“When data centers use water for cooling, one of the most important metrics is how efficiently they use that water—meaning how little water they use for each unit of compute. Amazon announced that its global data center operations used just 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour (L/kWh) in 2025, a rate that’s over 7x more efficient than the industry average of 0.84 L/kWh.

In other words, we use far less water per unit of compute than others in the global data center industry, which as a whole accounts for less than 0.5% of all industrial water use globally. 

And we’re continuing to get even more efficient year over year. These efficiency gains are the result of years of investment in custom cooling technology, smarter systems, and a commitment to minimize water use wherever possible.”

From Amazon News.

Bloomberg | Water Use

A Startup Pulls Water Out of the Air to Confront Shortages

“The large metallic white box sits in a Southern California parking lot, looking unremarkable until water starts flowing from a hose attached to it. Peer inside, though, and it’s nearly empty but for some wires, tubes and a container of light-colored material.

The water isn’t being conjured out of thin air by magic but by MOFs— metallic organic frameworks. MOFs are nanocrystalline structures engineered at an atomic level to attract specific molecules. In this case that’s H2O and the machine made by startup Atoco is silently harvesting molecules from the surrounding air and storing them in the material’s porous cavities that serve as microscopic water tanks.

Atoco founder Omar Yaghi shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry for pioneering MOFs and on an April morning he gave Bloomberg News an exclusive demonstration of the commercial prototype of its atmospheric water harvester in the lot outside the company’s Orange County laboratory…

Set to go into production later this year, the shipping container-sized machine will produce up to 4,000 liters (1,057 gallons) of water daily and can be installed at data centers, hospitals and other critical infrastructure. An off-the-grid model that operates on ambient sunlight and produces less water can be deployed to communities where water must now be trucked in.”

From Bloomberg.

myRGV | Water Use

Drought-Proof Desalination Plant Planned on South Padre Island

“On Thursday, officials from Cameron and Hidalgo counties together with representatives of US Desalination LLC and IDE Technologies hailed a partnership between the latter two companies that will see the construction of a $1 billion desalination plant on South Padre Island.

The companies formed RGV-Desal LLC, described in a news release as a joint venture to design, develop and finance the plant with private funds.

The plant is planned to produce around 50 million gallons per day using seawater from the Gulf of Mexico, and will be designed to serve the entire Rio Grande Valley.”

From myRGV.

Business Wire | Water Use

A New System to Reclaim Water for Data Center Cooling

“Veolia (Paris:VIE) is working with Amazon to reduce data center water use and advance water reuse in Amazon’s data center operations in Mississippi, contributing to local water resilience while supporting Amazon’s goal to be water positive across its direct data center operations by 2030.

The first facility is expected to be operational in 2027, making it the first Amazon data center in Mississippi to use reclaimed water for cooling. Veolia, world leader in water technologies, will deploy autonomous, innovative containerized treatment systems that will transform effluent from nearby wastewater treatment plants and other available sources into cooling water that meets the quality standards required for industrial cooling processes.

The project is expected to reuse more than 83 million gallons of potable water per year once fully operational, equivalent to the annual water use of approximately 760 U.S. homes — estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water the data center would otherwise draw from local groundwater and potable water supplies.”

From Business Wire.