Gigawatt Ledger · one-page briefing
Campus profile Operating
Eagle Mountain
Meta Platforms · Eagle Mountain, Utah
The resource footprint
Modelled averageIn one day, this campus consumes about
2.4850-metre swimming pools
Filled with the volume of water consumed by the campus and its electricity supply.
The actual estimate1,639,732 US gallons consumed
Power-plant water may come from a different watershed. This is a volume comparison, not a claim that households lose this water.
At current operating capacity · Annual model spread evenly over time, not a live meter. Site estimates may differ by roughly ±40%.
Comparison sizes & sources
One pool = 50 × 25 × 2 metres = 2.5 million litres (about 660,430 US gallons). Pool depths vary; this is a defined comparison size.
One home-year = 10,791 kWh, the EIA’s 2022 average US residential electricity purchases. This excludes electricity generated at home and is a fixed US benchmark for all sites.
One car-year = 4.6 tonnes CO₂, the EPA’s typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. The campus model is in CO₂e; the comparison expresses approximate climate scale, not equal mixtures of pollutants.
Monthly values are annual totals ÷ 12; daily values are annual totals ÷ 365. Actual demand varies. Comparisons cover the whole campus, including non-AI uses.
Water: see the numbers and sources
This is water used up, mainly through evaporation. Power-generation water may be used in a different watershed.
- Pressure on local water
- Extremely High — a regional measure of demand compared with available water
- Where the water comes from
- Municipal potable supply
- Cooling
- Outside-air economization; evaporative only on peak days
- Basis
- Fitted to a published figure of 175 million gallons a year
- Claimed vs observed
- Meta 2024 Environmental Data Index: 133 megalitres withdrawn (~35.1 million gallons). The model is still fitted to 175 million gallons; Meta reports withdrawal, not consumption.
Air: see the numbers and sources
The totals include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and fine particles. They cover both this site and the power plants supplying it.
- Health range
- $17.6–50.0 million a year. Lower bound is EASIUR national mid-range; upper is EPA benefit-per-ton at a ~$12M VSL.
- Statistical deaths
- 4.17 a year at that VSL — a national-average conversion from tons, not a local concentration study.
- Equals
- 528,149 cars of NOx
- Where it burns
- WECC Rockies — Utah / Nevada
- Generation mix
- Gas 42 · Coal 34 · Solar 12 · Geo 5
- Diesel backup
- Diesel backup is not yet counted for this campus, so on-site air figures are a floor.
- CO₂e
- 673 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
The project, approvals and community concerns
- Who asked for it
- Meta — self-build
- Who approved it
- Eagle Mountain City annexation and development agreement; Rocky Mountain Power supply plus a Meta-funded solar build
- What it serves
- Meta consumer app serving and storage
- IT capacity
- 220 MW current capacity / 450 MW full-build scenario
Sits in the Great Salt Lake basin, where the lake's decline is a live state emergency. Meta's design leans hard on dry cooling for exactly this reason — the site is a useful counterexample to the assumption that desert siting always means heavy water use.
Keep this guide handy
40.3122°, -112.0069°
Quote or share these estimates
Gigawatt Ledger (2026). Eagle Mountain: water and air. https://gigawatt-ledger.pages.dev/site/eaglemountain/. Modelled from disclosed capacity; site-level error ±40%.
Include the estimate’s date, whether it describes current or proposed capacity, and its uncertainty. Get an embeddable card.
Gigawatt Ledger · September 2026. Water and air figures are estimated from public records and disclosed capacity. How we calculate them · Use this in your community.