Amazon wants to help the Colorado River, but we still don’t know how much water the company uses
Amazon announced a Colorado River Basin Collaborative and pledged $20 million of its own capital toward an effort it expects to raise $100 million over two years to fund water-conservation projects along the Colorado River. The move comes amid scrutiny of tech companies’ water use — particularly for data centers — and incomplete public disclosure about Amazon’s total water footprint.
Why It Matters
The Colorado River supplies water to roughly 40 million people and has been in prolonged drought for decades, making corporate water use and investments in conservation significant for regional supply and policy debates. Greater transparency about total water consumption — including indirect or ‘secondary’ uses tied to electricity generation — matters for assessing whether corporate pledges align with local water stress.
Key Facts
- Amazon pledge: $20 million announced toward Colorado River conservation; company expects to help raise $100 million over two years.
- River reach: The Colorado River runs about 1,400 miles and serves roughly 40 million people across seven U.S. states and two Mexican states.
- Drought context: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation described 26 years of "unprecedented" drought on the Colorado River; the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a plan in August imposing cuts on Arizona, Nevada, and California.
- Local commitment: Amazon pledged $2.2 million over three years in Orange County, California, to detect and repair leaks — projected to conserve 189 million gallons annually.
- Amazon disclosed data-center water use: Amazon said its data centers (owned, leased, or shared) used 2.5 billion gallons of water globally in 2025; data centers it directly owns reduced water use 2% versus 2024 and improved water efficiency 52% since 2021.
Amazon on Thursday launched a Colorado River Basin Collaborative and committed $20 million of its own funds as part of a broader drive that the company expects will raise $100 million over two years to fund conservation projects in the watershed. The company described the effort as one of the largest corporate water-conservation campaigns focused on a single U.S. watershed, and said projects will be vetted by the U.N.-backed Water Resilience Coalition. Other companies may contract directly with conservation programs they select.
The Colorado River supplies water to about 40 million people across seven U.S. states and two Mexican states and has suffered extended low flows over the past 26 years, which the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has called "unprecedented." Federal actions this year include a Department of the Interior plan to reduce water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada, and California. Amazon’s announcement includes a local Orange County program where it pledged $2.2 million over three years to find and fix leaks, an initiative Amazon says will save roughly 189 million gallons annually.
The initiative arrives as tech companies face growing scrutiny over how much water their operations — especially data centers — consume. Amazon disclosed that its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water globally in 2025 across facilities it owns, leases, or shares, and said data centers the company owns directly cut water consumption by 2% year over year while improving water efficiency by 52% since 2021. The company reports using 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour for its data centers and says that figure is about seven times more efficient than the industry average it cites.
Despite these disclosures, critics and sustainability experts note gaps in Amazon’s reporting. Company reports show water use intensity for data-center operations but do not publish total historical water use across all operations, and some advocates emphasize that efficiency metrics alone can obscure overall consumption trends. A 2025 Guardian investigation cited an internal document alleging Amazon’s broader water footprint was larger when including water tied to electricity generation; Amazon disputed that reporting and said the document was outdated and misrepresented its strategy. In public comments, Amazon said it is 75% toward its goal of becoming water positive, reporting that last year it returned three gallons for every four gallons it used.
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