A Microsoft data centre in Goodyear, Arizona, was found to be consuming huge amounts of the town's water supply to support its cloud computing and AI efforts.

Microsoft's 279-acre Goodyear data centre is diverting water away from local families and  contributing to making an area already suffering from heat waves and water shortages, according to The Atlantic. 

The centre would consume approximately 56 million gallons of drinking water once its third building was completed, which would equate to approximately the amount 670 Goodyear families would consume in a single year, according to the report.

A source told the The Atlantic that the facility had been specifically designed for use by Microsoft and OpenAI, and that Microsoft had been redacting figures in city records on the grounds that its water consumption was 'proprietary' information.

The city of Goodyear told the Atlantic that Microsoft's water use is protected under industrial water rights and does not impact the city's water portfolio.

Microsoft and OpenAI declined to comment on the article.