Building AquaStat: Why We Started Tracking Data Center Water Usage

When people think about data centers, they usually think about servers, GPUs, electricity, and AI. Very few people think about water. That realization is what led me to start building AquaStat . Why AquaStat? Modern data centers consume significant amounts of water for cooling. Depending on the technology, climate, and workload, water usage can vary dramatically from one facility to another. Finding reliable information about that usage, however, is often difficult. Some facilities voluntarily publish sustainability reports. Others release only limited information. In many cases, information is scattered across government documents, environmental reports, local news articles, permits, or community discussions. I wanted to build a platform that could organize this information into something developers, researchers, journalists, and the public could actually use. What AquaStat Is AquaStat is an API-first platform focused on collecting, organizing, and analyzing information related to data center water usage. The long-term vision includes: A developer-friendly REST API OpenAPI documentation API key management A desktop control center A command-line interface Historical tracking Source attribution for collected information Transparent methodologies A modern TypeScript ecosystem Rather than hiding calculations, I want AquaStat to explain where information comes from and how conclusions are reached whenever possible. Technical Goals I'm designing AquaStat around several principles: API First Everything should be accessible through documented APIs before being exposed through a graphical interface. Strong Documentation Documentation should be treated as part of the product, not an afterthought. Reproducible Calculations Whenever AquaStat estimates or derives values, the methodology should be understandable and repeatable. Modern Tooling The project uses a modern TypeScript stack with an emphasis on maintainability, testing, and developer experience. Challenges One of the b