Grading a water claim against the city’s own data
A figure for data center water consumption circulated widely in the Hillsboro debate. It does not describe the jurisdiction it was aimed at, by roughly two orders of magnitude. The correction sits on the city’s own website and had gone unused.
The claim
A per-facility daily water consumption figure in the millions of gallons circulated in public comment and advocacy material during the Hillsboro data center debate. The figure is not specific to Hillsboro and is not attributed to a Hillsboro facility.
The record
City of Hillsboro published data on data center water use, retrieved from the City’s data centers page and water-use fact sheet.
The finding
The circulated per-facility figure does not reconcile against the City of Hillsboro’s published water data as of September 10, 2026.
What the City publishes
- Hillsboro used approximately 6.3 billion gallons of water in 2025, with 3.2 billion gallons in total industrial processes.
- Approximately 111 million gallons were used at data centers, about 3.4 percent of industrial demand and 1.76 percent of total city water demand.
- The Hillsboro Water Department estimates about eight data center companies at approximately 14 sites in 2025.
- 111 million gallons per year across approximately 14 sites is approximately 304,000 gallons per day across all of them.
The City now states on its own data center page that a location previously reported as two data center sites was corrected to one site with two buildings. That correction is the reconciliation reflected in this finding.
What this does not establish
- This grades a circulated figure against one jurisdiction’s published data and says nothing about facilities elsewhere.
- The City’s figures are published figures rather than independently metered by Calyx.
- Aggregate share of demand does not address timing, seasonal peak, or the condition of a particular source.
- This finding takes no position on whether data center water use in Hillsboro is acceptable.
Funding
Self-funded. No party commissioned, reviewed, or was shown this finding before publication.
Reproduction
All figures above are published by the City of Hillsboro. The daily average is the City’s annual figure divided by 365 and by the City’s stated site count.