Can data centers really be cooled with human urine?
A tongue-in-cheek Liquid Death ad featuring former NFL star Jason Kelce jokes about using urine to cool AI data centers, and it turns out there's a real practice behind the gag: recycled wastewater. Experts say raw urine wouldn't work, but treated water is already easing the industry's massive water demands.
Beverage brand Liquid Death, together with former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce, released a satirical commercial urging people to urinate on data centers to help cool them and offset the water demands of AI infrastructure. While clearly a joke, the campaign accidentally touches on a real industry practice: using recycled water for cooling.
AI data centers require enormous volumes of water to keep servers from overheating. Michael Obradovitch, vice president at Ecolab, explained that alternative water sources, including recycled water made from treated wastewater and sewage, are already being used to offset demand for potable water. Sewage naturally contains human urine among other waste.
Experts caution that raw urine itself couldn't be used directly — it contains salts, urea, bacteria, and organic matter that would leave mineral deposits and require constant equipment cleaning, particularly with evaporative cooling methods.
Treatment technology
Water treatment facilities rely on membrane bioreactors, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light to purify wastewater for industrial use, and in some cases even for drinking. Dr. Greta Zornes of engineering firm CDM Smith says recycled water has been used for industrial cooling for decades, but demand specifically for data center cooling has surged recently.
The main obstacle is infrastructure — recycled water only works near sufficiently large wastewater treatment plants. In Loudoun County, Virginia, home to more than 250 data centers, recycled water covers just 43% of daily usage, with the remaining 57% drawn from potable supplies.
Meta has pledged at least $270 million toward wastewater infrastructure projects, while industry advocates are pushing for policies such as a 30% tax credit to accelerate recycled water infrastructure. A recent Gallup poll found about seven in ten Americans oppose data centers in their communities, underscoring how water consumption has become a mainstream public concern.
