Data center hubs + watersheds

Thirst Trap Map

Source: Aterio + Pew / DCM + USGS · Last update: Wed May 20 2026
Source:Aterio + Pew / DCM + USGS
Last update:Wed May 20 2026
Data center hubs + watersheds

Thirst Trap Map

Every data center has a watershed.

A civic art/data project mapping active data center hubs against rivers, watersheds, water stress, and local community context.

Start here: data center hubs are expanding over real water systems.

The map helps people ask: what is being built near my river, my watershed, my neighborhood, my home?

Choose a featured hub below to see active projects, nearby water systems, and what still needs verification.

Start with the hubs

Choose a hub to see what’s being built near water.

V1 focuses the map on five launch hubs where data center growth, rivers, watersheds, and community questions already overlap.

Open the map
What’s being built near water?

Hub view map

Click a hub card, table row, or pin to move between the regional pattern and project-level water context.

Project stage:
Active
UC
Announced
Water context:
Water-impact
River
Filters are first-pass civic review helpers.

Selected hub Texas

Texas data center hub

Trinity, Edwards, and Colorado River systems

What’s here?

Active296
Planned170
Curated pins—

Water systems

Rivers / basinsTrinity · Edwards · Colorado
Risk flagHigh
Needs checkingWater source, organizer, local source links

Selected project

DFW3 Dallas Data Center

CyrusOne · Active

Dallas, TX

Water context

Water source —
Nearby river —
Basin / watershed —
Stress level —
Flow percentile Needs gauge match
Water-impact metadata —
Est. water use —

Community, organizing & verification

Community & organizing

Organizing group Not yet added
Local notes Not yet added
Summit priority TBD

Sources & verification

Source links —
Metadata completeness
0%
Submit a tip or update
Teardrop pins mark projects with water-source data. Click any pin to inspect verified details.

Help verify what’s happening near your water

Submissions do not appear automatically. Tips, updates, coordinates, water-source relationships, and organizing notes are reviewed before they are added to the public map.

Submit a tip or update

People are already fighting back

Watch organizers, residents, researchers, and communities document how data centers and infrastructure projects are being challenged, questioned, and resisted.

Media resource
Community response

People are already fighting back

Open the playlist to watch community reporting and public context, including Trinidad, Texas residents raising watershed concerns tied to data center growth.

Expanded hub list secondary view

StateActivePlannedTotal
Virginia398287685
Texas296170466
California277150427
Ohio166250416
Illinois120123243
Georgia100141241
New York14880228
Arizona8086166

Active = currently operating. Planned = under construction + announced + land banked. Source: Pew Research / Data Center Map, Feb 2026.

River Stress Signals

Hybrid signals combine WRI-style baseline stress with USGS 90-day streamflow where a gauge is available. Click any river to highlight matching pins on the map above.

Source: USGS Water Services · 90-day daily mean discharge · Stress badges from local WRI Aqueduct-style baseline lookup

Companion water context + public trust

A secondary reference layer for water contamination, water access, infrastructure failure, criminalization, and environmental accountability stories. This supports the hub map without replacing project-level verification.

Offshoot resource

Jennifer Combs / Trinidad, Texas

Resident arrested after posting about local water concerns; useful public-trust context for Trinity River-area water anxiety.

Open source

PFAS contamination map

National reference layer for forever-chemical contamination and affected water systems.

Open EWG map

Military bases + PFAS

State-by-state resource for military-base water contamination concerns.

Open list

Historic water crisis references

Sand Branch, Flint, Love Canal, Cuyahoga River fires, Elk River spill, and Jackson, Mississippi remain reference points for civic review.

Context only

Public layer —Thirst Trap Map is part art project, part civic data experiment. Public submissions help identify missing data, local context, and organizing efforts, but all submitted information is reviewed before appearing on the map.

V1 note —This is a V1 public layer. It shows curated and verified information while inviting public tips through a review process. Future versions may include a private admin layer, moderated submissions, and a live database.

Trust note — Data is compiled from public sources (Aterio, Pew Research / Data Center Map, USGS Water Services, US Census, AP) and may be incomplete or inconsistent across trackers. Individual pin coordinates outside the curated set are statistical approximations within known metro markets, not source-verified addresses. Water-source relationships should be confirmed with local water authorities, permits, utility districts, environmental reports, or USGS gauge data before use in advocacy or reporting. Water stress signals are directional and should not be treated as final hydrological analysis. Spanish translation should be reviewed by a native speaker before public launch.

Support TT —Help sustain the research, hosting, design, and self-funded labor behind Thirst Trap Map.

Support TT on Ko-fi

Site and data design by © 2026 - ANGELAFAZ.COM

THE CLOUD IS THIRSTY · EVERY DATA CENTER HAS A WATERSHED · RIVERS ARE NOT CHECKBOOKS · PUBLIC DATA, PUBLIC WATER · DON’T FALL FOR THE THIRST TRAP · AI LOOKS HOT. THE WATER BILL IS HOTTER. · WATER RISK IS COMMUNITY RISK · FIELD NOTES FROM THE CLOUD’S WATERSHED · MAP THE THIRST · PROTECT THE FLOW ·
Hub selected