Paper short abstract

As data centers expand, freshwater becomes a contested resource. This paper explores how grassroots movements challange the narrative of "green AI" by make water visible in struggles over digital infrastructures in Europe.

Paper long abstract

The UN recently published a report stating that we are now living in a time of global freshwater bankruptcy (UN, 2026). At the same time, the rapid expansion of data centers for AI-use is placing increasing pressure on freshwater resources and the communities that depend on them. However, the infrastructure- and resource conflicts are often obscured by narratives of “green” digitalization, where AI and renewable energy are framed as drivers of sustainable transition. In this article, I examine how notions of “green AI” are constructed and contested in relation to the expansion of data centers in Europe.

Drawing on socio-technical imaginaries, affective infrastructures, and decolonial theory, this study analyzes counter-narratives articulated by grassroots movements and local actors engaging with data center development. Using narrative network analysis in which discursive nodes, such as water, are mapped to make visible how resources, infrastructures, and affective expressions are linked in alternative socio-technical imaginaries.

Preliminary findings suggest that freshwater emerges as a central node in these counter-narratives. While industry narratives portray water as a neutral technical commodity for cooling data centers, grassroots narratives emerge as a relational and political node where ecological boundaries and local living conditions converge. The narrative network analysis reveals how grassroots movements develop alternative ways of “making water visible” through narratives that link local water practices and digital infrastructure. This articulates alternative socio-technical imaginaries where the struggle for AI infrastructure also becomes a struggle over how water is noticed, valued, and managed in the green digital transition.