Data Centers in Indiana and the Midwest: Assessment of Power and Water Demand in the AI Era

10 pages•Published: June 2, 2026

Abstract

The Midwest is experiencing a rapid surge in hyperscale data-center development, largely driven by the growing computational demands of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. Centering on Indiana while incorporating regional comparisons, this study compiles a verified public dataset of active and announced projects, models their annual electricity consumption across load-factor scenarios, and estimates direct on-site water requirements under alternative Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) assumptions. Results reveal that a single multi-gigawatt campus can contribute tens of terawatt-hours (TWh) of additional annual electricity demand, while water impacts depend heavily on the choice of cooling technology, ranging from evaporative to dry or hybrid systems. Even when direct on-site water use is minimized, the indirect water footprint embedded in electricity generation remains significant, highlighting the urgent need for integrated energy-water nexus accounting within utility Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs), municipal infrastructure planning, and corporate sustainability reporting. Recent studies converge on projections of exponential load growth from AI operations: global data-center electricity use, estimated at approximately 415 TWh in 2024, is expected to nearly double to 900-1,000 TWh by 2030, with AI emerging as the dominant driver (Takci, 2025). Although many hyperscale operators are adopting dry or hybrid cooling systems that nearly eliminate direct water withdrawals, the indirect consumption associated with thermally based electricity generation continues to pose major sustainability challenges, particularly within grids characterized by high fossil or nuclear generation shares. These findings reinforce the need to couple WUE disclosure with transparent reporting of grid composition and to accelerate the transition toward 24×7 clean-energy procurement strategies.

Keyphrases: ai, data centers, electricity demand, sustainability, water demand

In: Wesley Collins, Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico (editors). Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference, vol 7, pages 425-434.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/v537
	https://doi.org/10.29007/m2wl

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2026:Data_Centers_Indiana_Midwest,
  author    = {Sherif Attallah and Jennifer Warrner},
  title     = {Data Centers in Indiana and the Midwest: Assessment of Power and Water Demand in the AI Era},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference},
  editor    = {Wesley Collins and Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {7},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/v537},
  doi       = {10.29007/m2wl},
  pages     = {425-434},
  year      = {2026}}

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