Adrian Montenegro and his fellow UNLV engineering seniors—Alyssa Surette, Daniel Nevarez, and Elias Black—have spent their senior year developing a proposal to help address one of Southern Nevada’s most pressing resource challenges: water use by data centers. Their project centers on Google’s massive data facility in eastern Henderson, which in 2024 alone withdrew over 352 million gallons of water—enough to supply hundreds of households for a year.
With the region facing historic shortages on the Colorado River and new ordinances banning the use of river water for evaporative cooling in new developments, the team focused on a renewable but underutilized resource: shallow groundwater. The aquifer beneath the data center, recharged at about 120 gallons per minute, is currently left unused or pumped out and discarded due to its high concentrations of sulfates and minerals.
The students propose that, with appropriate treatment—using either ion-exchange or reverse-osmosis filtration—this “nuisance” groundwater could offset up to 22 percent of the data center’s annual water consumption without depleting the aquifer. Their cost estimate for construction is around $300,000, with additional long-term maintenance. The project was showcased at the UNLV College of Engineering’s senior design fair, with the team hoping their groundwork might inspire Google to adopt the solution.
Their effort highlights the growing need for innovative water management as data centers expand in arid regions. While energy capacity traditionally dictates where tech giants build facilities, water scarcity is now forcing a new wave of adaptation—one that may hinge on creative solutions like those devised by these students.