Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 hr ago
Texas oilfield wastewater may help cool data centers
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say treated oilfield wastewater could be used to cool data centers.
The water comes from oil and gas extraction in the Permian Basin of West Texas, which produces about 8 billion gallons of it each day.
Much of this wastewater is transported and injected underground for disposal.
Researchers say desalination could make it suitable for cooling, although treating very salty water can require significant energy.
Data centers can use millions of gallons of water daily, adding pressure to local supplies.
Using wastewater instead could reduce freshwater use and make productive use of water that otherwise needs disposal.
The researchers have proposed this approach, but the sources do not describe a deployment or a next step.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say desalination could make oilfield wastewater suitable for cooling data centers.
The approach could reduce data centers’ reliance on freshwater, while making use of wastewater from Texas oil and gas extraction.
The Permian Basin produces about 8 billion gallons of produced water per day, according to the article.
The researchers say the wastewater is now transported for underground injection, which they say carries risks including seismic activity.
The research was published in the journal Water Research.
- Who
- Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, including professor Vaibhav Bahadur.
- What
- They propose treating salty or contaminated oilfield wastewater for use in data center cooling.
- When
- The article was published on October 13, 2026. The study is described as recently published.
- Where
- The Permian Basin in West Texas.
- Why
- To reduce data centers’ reliance on freshwater and make use of wastewater that is currently transported for disposal.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Location
- Permian Basin, West Texas
- Produced water
- Approximately 8 billion gallons per day
- Data center water use
- Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day
- Projected data center water consumption
- Approximately 33 billion gallons by 2028
What people are saying
We’re not waiting for a futuristic technology to come along and solve this problem for us
The Permian (Basin) puts out 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools per day, and right now this water is transported over long distances and injected underground. This is problematic in many ways including the risk of seismic activity
We’re also running out of space to bury that water, by as early as 2030. We need to find a way to use it, and cleaning it up for data centers is a great way to do that
Sources
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