Canada Water Consumption Market

Canada Water Consumption Market Analysis

The Canada Water Consumption Market size is estimated at 65.71 billion liters in 2025, and is expected to reach 96.55 billion liters by 2030, at a CAGR of greater than 8% during the forecast period (2025-2030).

IT Load Capacity: The IT load capacity for Canada colocation data center market stands at roughly 1229.13 MW in 2024.

Geographical Significance: Canada, home to over two million lakes and rivers, has the world's largest inland waters, crossing various boundaries. Its continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers, benefits data centers through favorable conditions, ample electricity, cooling water, and tax incentives. However, climate change is increasing drought risks in regions like the southern Prairies and British Columbia's interior, impacting hydroelectricity generation and raising electricity costs for industries and consumers.

Raised Floor Space: The raised floor space for Canada colocation data center market is estimated at around 4410117.92 million sq.ft in 2024.

Projected Installed Racks: The projected number of installed racks in Canada colocation data center market for 2024 is approximately 175590.

Canada Water Consumption Market Trends

Rising Demand for Mega Data Centers Amid Digitalization Trends Sparks Concerns Over Water Consumption

• Canada's digital transformation is accelerating due to increased data usage, cloud migration, enhanced submarine cable connectivity, AI adoption, and 5G deployment. In 2024, AI and Machine Learning advancements are making data centers crucial, necessitating more water for cooling and maintenance through liquid cooling technology.
• The 2021 rollout of 5G networks in Canada is driving demand for high-bandwidth infrastructure, boosting the digital economy and enabling smart city initiatives. These initiatives will enhance video technology, augmented reality (AR), and Software Defined Networking (SDN), promoting nationwide innovation and connectivity. Notably, 30% of Canadians around 510 million people planned to upgrade to 5G by 2024.
• Cloud storage demand is rising in Canada as industries seek cost-effective data backup, storage, and protection as cloud's scalability and flexibility are reducing downtime, prompting businesses to transition from traditional data centers. For instance, in 2024, the Qualys CA1 Shared Cloud Platform (SCP) will move from a physical data center to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in Toronto.
• This ongoing digital trends and the need for robust digital infrastructure,AI and cloud transformation is driving the demand for mega data centers in Canada. These centers are adopting liquid cooling technologies to meet the high demands of servers and GPUs, leading to increased water consumption as AI workloads and IoT adoption grow in coming years.

Colocation Data Center Providers Adopt Cooling Technologies to Reduce Water Usage

• Canada is seeing a rapid increase in AI and colocation data centers. Cloud and colocation providers plan to invest billions to meet the growing demands of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. While carbon emissions and electricity consumption are often discussed, water usage is becoming a key issue, especially in water-scarce regions like British Columbia. Since 2019, Canadian government initiatives for freshwater projects have boosted investments, ensuring a stable water supply for industries, including data centers. Consequently, Canada has not faced major water scarcity issues.
• Canada hosts over 200 data centers, mainly colocation facilities with Toronto and Montreal as prime locations. With the rise of AI, power and water demands are increasing. Data centers now support rack power requirements exceeding 20 kilowatts (kW), with future projections reaching 50 kW or more. These centers, equipped with advanced IT infrastructure like racks, servers, and GPUs, generate significant heat. To manage this, they use liquid cooling technologies, such as direct-to-chip and immersion cooling.
• To tackle water consumption issues, colocation operators are adopting innovative technologies to reduce freshwater use. For example, Equinix's Toronto data center uses a deep lake water cooling (DLWC) system, drawing cold water from Lake Ontario, Canada, allowing Equinix to cut the data center's total energy needs by 50%, while maintaining consistent water consumption levels.
• Colocation data centers in Canada are increasingly implementing these advanced technologies to minimize water usage. This shift is driving significant investments to meet the growing demand for high-speed, low-latency data services in the near future.

Canada Water Consumption Industry Overview

The Canadian water consumption market is characterized by fragmentation, with five major players at the forefront. These leading entities are Cologix, Inc., Equinix, Inc., Digital Realty Trust Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Google LLC. Numerous cloud and colocation data centers, notably those run by Google and Microsoft, have ambitiously targeted a "water positive" status by 2030. Highlighting industry initiatives, Digital Realty has not only become the inaugural consumer of recycled water but is also the sole data center company to affiliate with the WaterReuse Association’s Recycled Water User Network, a consortium for entities leveraging recycled water.

Canada Water Consumption Market Leaders

Canada Water Consumption Market News

• July 2024: Microsoft is pioneering direct-to-chip liquid cooling and exploring microfluidics. These innovations are being integrated into data centers globally, utilizing the sidekick liquid cooling system. The latest designs, tailored for AI workloads, eliminate water usage for cooling by adopting chip-level solutions. This approach ensures precise temperature control without evaporation, significantly reducing water consumption and enhancing rack capacity.
• September 2024: Equinix's Toronto data centers employ a deep lake water cooling (DLWC) system, drawing cold water from Lake Ontario's depths. This innovation has halved the data center's energy requirements by 50%, without increasing water usage. Globally, Equinix used about 60% of the water withdrawn from its data centers, mainly for evaporative cooling. The remaining 40% was typically discharged into the local municipal wastewater system.