Water: A Constraint on Industrial Growth?
The hosts:
Steve Kloos, Burnt Island Ventures
Megan Gerryts, World Economic Forum
What is this Ripple about?
Water is becoming a system-level constraint on industrial growth, shaping where and how infrastructure can be built, expanded and operated. This is most visible in the rapid expansion of AI - where data centers, power generation, and semiconductor manufacturing all depend on reliable, high-quality water - but the same dynamics are playing out across multiple industrial sectors competing for increasingly constrained and less predictable water supplies.
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
60% of global GDP depends on water, and growth is accelerating across industrial sectors including data centers, semiconductor fabs, energy, pharmaceuticals, and mining. At the same time, climate change is making water availability less predictable, weakening water security and increasing pressure on already-stressed systems. Water is becoming a strategic constraint that can influence siting decisions, expansion plans, operational resilience, and long-term project viability.
The AI build-out accentuates this dynamic. Data centers are water intensive, but the water needed for the power generation to drive those data centers and for the semiconductor production that supplies them is ~10X greater. But the issue is broad: multiple industries are scaling simultaneously into water systems that are local, constrained, and becoming less reliable. As water availability, quality, and community acceptance become harder to manage, the gap between industrial growth assumptions and water system realities is widening. What solutions are able to help meet the challenge?
Key questions or challenges being explored
When does water become a binding constraint on industrial growth?
How do availability, quality, and local acceptance begin to shape where infrastructure - across AI, energy, and manufacturing - can realistically be built?
How should industrial systems adapt to less reliable water conditions?
Which approaches, e.g. reuse, alternative supply, water benefits & replenishment programs, and utility partnerships, are proving viable at scale, and where do they fall short?
What does this mean for infrastructure strategy and capital allocation?
How should investors and operators account for water as a cross-sector dependency when evaluating long-term growth and resilience? Where are the biggest opportunities for innovation and water technology to improve efficiency, resilience, and system performance?
The main tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
Industrial growth vs water availability
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Investors allocating capital into infrastructure, industrial systems, and climate
Family offices, foundations, and other long-term capital allocators
Corporate leaders in data centers, energy, semiconductors, and other water intensive industrial sectors
Strategic decision-makers navigating siting, resilience, and infrastructure constraints