In a cheeky marketing campaign, Liquid Death and former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce proposed using pee to cool down data centers, sparking a humorous debate on environmental innovation.

Michael Obradovitch from Ecolab confirmed that alternative water sources are already being used in data centers. Urine, when treated, can become part of the cooling process, but not without its challenges.

Pee contains salts and organic matter that could lead to mineral deposits if simply poured into a cooling system. Instead, wastewater treatment facilities use processes like membrane bioreactors and reverse osmosis to clean water for industrial use.

Though data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, are increasingly using recycled water, infrastructure needs significant investment and time to build out proper systems. The AI industry could drive resources towards this effort but faces challenges in rural areas where existing wastewater treatment plants are insufficiently sized.