Most people think of the internet as weightless. We imagine photos floating in the cloud, emails traveling through invisible networks, and artificial intelligence existing somewhere beyond the physical world. The language itself encourages the illusion. “The cloud” sounds like something in the sky. In reality, the digital world is built on concrete, steel, electricity, and surprisingly, water. A lot of water. As artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data storage continue expanding, communities across the country are beginning to ask a question that would have sounded strange a decade ago: What happens when data centers and local residents depend on the same water supply during a drought? This is not a…