The Dalles Data Centers and Water

What the public records show about Google’s water use, infrastructure agreements, transparency, and the questions that still remain.

What we know so far

Google has been operating data centers in The Dalles since 2006.For years, one of the simplest questions about those facilities was surprisingly hard to answer:How much water were they using?The answer eventually came out because a reporter asked for the records and the City of The Dalles fought to keep them private.What we know now is that Google's water use became a significant piece of the city's municipal water system.In 2021, Google-related facilities withdrew about 355 million gallons of water, roughly 29% of the city's total municipal water use. Google reported consuming about 274.5 million gallons that year.By 2024, withdrawals had climbed to about 461.1 million gallons, with about 361.4 million gallons consumed.And in 2025, Google reported consuming roughly 550 million gallons of water.That is about five times what the company was using in 2012.There is an important difference between water withdrawn and water consumed.Withdrawal is the water delivered to the facilities.Consumption is the portion that does not return to the immediate water system, largely because it evaporates during cooling.That distinction matters in The Dalles because this is not just a story about a very large water bill.It is about how much water actually leaves the local system, what infrastructure was built to deliver it, what agreements were made as Google's campuses expanded, and how much of that information the public could see while those decisions were being made.That last part is how a water story turned into a transparency story.

Water use

The numbers get big fast.2021Google-related facilities withdrew about 355 million gallons of municipal water.That was roughly 29% of The Dalles' total municipal water withdrawal for the year.Google separately reported consuming about 274.5 million gallons.2024Withdrawal increased to about 461.1 million gallons.Consumption was about 361.4 million gallons.2025Google reported consuming roughly 550 million gallons of water.That is about five times what it reported consuming in 2012.It was also roughly 40% of the city's total water use.The difference between withdrawal and consumption matters here.Withdrawal is the water delivered to the facilities.Consumption is the portion that does not return to the immediate water system.A lot of that loss happens through evaporation during cooling.So when Google withdrew 461 million gallons in 2024 and consumed about 361 million gallons, those are not two competing versions of the same number.They are describing two different parts of what happened to the water.That distinction becomes important when we start asking the harder question:How much pressure does this actually put on the water system in The Dalles?

Why the numbers were hard to get

For years, the public could see that Google's data centers were growing in The Dalles.What they could not easily see was how much water the facilities were using.In September 2021, Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Mike Rogoway asked the City of The Dalles for Google's historical water-use records.The city denied the request.Google argued that the numbers were trade secrets and that releasing them could reveal information about how its data centers operated.The Wasco County District Attorney disagreed and ordered the city to release the records.Instead, the city sued to keep them private.That is how a basic public-records request turned into a court fight.The case eventually settled in December 2022.As part of that settlement, the city released annual water-use figures going back to 2012 and agreed that comparable records would be available going forward.That fight matters because the water numbers were not obscure technical data sitting in a forgotten spreadsheet.They described how much of a public water system was being used by one of the largest industrial customers in town.And for a while, the public had to go to court just to see them.

Infrastructure

The water numbers tell us how much Google used.They do not tell us what had to be built to make that possible.Google's first data center opened in The Dalles in 2006. The campus expanded from there, and so did the systems serving it.That is the infrastructure story I am still putting together.Where did the additional water capacity come from?Which pipes, pumps, storage facilities and treatment systems were expanded?Were those projects already planned, or did the timing change because Google's demand was growing?Who paid for them?And who carries the cost when that infrastructure eventually needs to be replaced?The Dalles is especially interesting because Google is not pulling water from a private system sitting behind the data center fence.It is connected to the city's municipal water system.That means the data center and everyone else in town are tied into some of the same infrastructure.There are agreements between Google and the city that help answer pieces of this. There are capital improvement records, utility documents and council records that answer other pieces.But, like the water-use numbers themselves, the whole story does not sit neatly in one document.I can tell you that Google reported consuming about 550 million gallons of water in The Dalles in 2025.What I am still trying to figure out is what had to happen underneath the ground to move that much water.

What happened when

2006Google opened its first data center in The Dalles.The campus kept expanding from there, and so did its demand for water.2012This is the first year in the historical water-use data that eventually became public.Google reported consuming about 112 million gallons of water.2021Google-related facilities withdrew about 355 million gallons from the city's water system.Then the water story became a public-records story.In September, Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Mike Rogoway asked the City of The Dalles for Google's historical water-use records.The city denied the request, arguing that the numbers were protected as trade secrets.October 2021After the Wasco County District Attorney ordered the records released, the city went to court to keep them private.So instead of the numbers becoming public, a records request about municipal water use turned into a lawsuit.December 2022The fight ended in a settlement.The city released Google's annual water-use figures going back to 2012 and agreed that comparable records would be available going forward.For the first time, the public could see how Google's water use had changed over a decade.2024Google-related facilities withdrew about 461.1 million gallons of municipal water and consumed about 361.4 million gallons.2025Google reported consuming roughly 550 million gallons.That was about five times its reported consumption in 2012.So the timeline here is not just the story of Google's water use going up.It is also the story of how long it took for the public to be able to see it.

What the records establish

The biggest thing the records establish is simple.Google became a very large user of The Dalles' municipal water system.In 2021, Google-related facilities withdrew about 355 million gallons, roughly 29% of the city's total municipal water withdrawal.By 2024, that had climbed to about 461.1 million gallons.In 2025, Google reported consuming roughly 550 million gallons, about five times what it reported consuming in 2012.Those numbers are real.The fight over whether the public could see them is real too.When Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Mike Rogoway requested Google's historical water-use records in 2021, the city denied the request.The Wasco County District Attorney ordered the records released.The city sued instead.The case eventually settled, and the historical numbers became public.That gives us a pretty clear picture of how Google's water use changed.It does not give us the whole water story.The records I have so far do not tell me that Google caused a particular resident's well to decline.They do not tell me that a farm lost water because of the data centers.And a large number by itself does not tell us whether The Dalles' water system can or cannot sustain Google's demand.Those questions need more than gallons.They need information about where the water comes from, how much is available, when demand peaks, what infrastructure was added, how the system is being managed and what happens as Google's campuses keep growing.That is the part I am still working on.We finally know how much water Google is using.Now I want to know what that number actually means for The Dalles.

Sources & primary records

The water numbers on this page did not come from estimates.They come from records released by the City of The Dalles, Google's own environmental reporting, court records and the public-records fight that finally made the historical numbers available.City of The DallesCity records are the backbone of the water-use timeline. They show how much municipal water was delivered to Google-related facilities and how that use changed as the campus grew.City of The DallesGoogleGoogle publishes annual environmental data that includes water consumption at its data center campuses. I use those figures separately from city withdrawal numbers because withdrawal and consumption are not the same thing.Google Environmental ReportsThe Oregonian/OregonLive records fightReporter Mike Rogoway requested Google's historical water-use records from the city in 2021.The request was denied. The Wasco County District Attorney ordered the records released. The city sued to keep them private.The case eventually settled in 2022, and the historical water-use figures became public.The Oregonian/OregonLive: Google water recordsOregon Water Resources DepartmentState water records are part of the larger question I am still working through: where The Dalles' water comes from, how much is available and how Google's demand fits into the broader system.Oregon Water Resources DepartmentI am still looking for the records that connect those gallons to the physical system underneath them.Water agreements.Capital improvement records.Pipes, pumps, storage and treatment capacity.Who paid for specific expansions.And what changed as Google's demand grew.Those are the records that can tell us what 461 million gallons moving through the city system actually means.

About this case study

The Dalles is the case that made me realize how annoying a simple question can get.How much water is Google actually using?That should have been easy.It wasn't.Now we have the numbers, which is great, but of course that just created a whole new pile of questions.Where is all of that water coming from?What had to be built to move it?Who paid for that?How much room is left in the system?And what happens if Google keeps growing?That is the part I am still chasing.I have linked the original records throughout this page so you can see exactly what I am looking at.Last updated: August 28, 2026Clouds on the Range is an independent research project looking at how data center growth intersects with agriculture, water, energy, infrastructure and rural communities.

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