{"id":3825,"date":"2025-07-19T16:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ai-data-center-water\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T16:00:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T16:00:43","slug":"ai-data-center-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ai-data-center-water\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Data Centers Accused of Creating Major Problems for Local Water Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After Meta started building an enormous data center less than 400 yards <\/span>away from their house<\/span><\/a>, a couple living in Newton County, Georgia, says their water started to dry up. That began in 2018; years later, two of their bathroom taps still don’t work. What water remains has <\/span>turned into a gritty sludge<\/span><\/a>, littered with sediments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, Beverly Morris and her husband Jeff have spent $5,000 on their water problems, they told the New York <\/em><\/a><\/span>Times<\/a> <\/span><\/i>in a new interview<\/span>, and can’t afford to replace their well, which <\/span>would cost $25,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It feels like we’re fighting an unwinnable battle that we didn’t sign up for,” Beverly told the <\/span>NYT<\/span><\/i>. “I’m scared to drink our own water.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Morrises are the same couple at the center of <\/span>BBC <\/span><\/i>reporting<\/span><\/a> earlier this month, when they complained about an alarming buildup of sediment in their drinking water. Meta denied that its facility was responsible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, new reporting<\/a> from the <\/span>NYT <\/span><\/i>suggests that the entire county, which is near Atlanta and home to over 120,000 people, may be in danger of suffering the fate of the Morrises.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a report from last year cited by the newspaper, Newton County is on track to be in a water deficit by 2030, forcing residents to ration water if the water authority’s facilities aren’t upgraded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blair Northen, the mayor of Mansfield, a town in Newton County, described the situation as “absolutely terrible.” As it stands, water rates <\/span>will surge by 33 percent, far above the typical two percent annual climb, Northen told the <\/span>NYT<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Generative AI’s ghastly environmental toll<\/a> is hardly a secret, despite tech companies trying to keep specific data about its energy bills, water consumption, and carbon emissions under wraps. But now we’re starting to see more residents witnessing the effects of tech’s voracious demands firsthand as the AI race marches on.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it’s on track to <\/span>get even worse. Older data centers like Meta’s in Newton typically use 500,000 gallons of water per day, according to the <\/span>NYT. <\/span><\/i>But permit applications examined by the paper suggest that new facilities will guzzle millions of gallons per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Manganiello, water policy director of the environmental nonprofit Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, discovered that one data center company in Georgia was demanding a staggering nine million gallons of water per day \u2014 the equivalent of 30,000 households. “It is a tremendous amount,” Manganiello told the <\/span>NYT<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite these immense demands, AI companies will often prioritize locations with cheap energy instead of water availability because energy is more expensive, hydrologist and director of urban water policy at Stanford University Newsha Ajami told the paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

That puts nearby communities in a bind. Energy can be brought in by building a new power plant, but it’s rarely so simple for potable liquids. In the case of Newton County, it gets all of its water from a reservoir that’s refilled only by rainfall.<\/span><\/p>\n

For tech companies, “water is an afterthought” Ajami said. “The thinking is, ‘Someone will figure that out later.'”<\/span><\/p>\n

A Meta spokesperson said the company conducted a well study on the Morris property, concluding it was “unlikely” that its data center affected their groundwater.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Mike Hopkins, the executive director of the Newton County Water and Sewerage Authority, who insisted that the county’s on good terms with the tech juggernaut, the Meta data center gobbles up about 10 percent of the county’s total water use daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

“What the data centers don’t understand is that they’re taking up the community wealth,” Hopkins told the <\/span>NYT<\/span><\/i>. “We just don’t have the water.”<\/span><\/p>\n

One solution being pursued is to upgrade the county’s water cycling facilities, according to Hopkins. But that solution is in a “race against the clock,” and is set to cost more than $250 million. <\/span>You have to wonder if Meta will help foot the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

More on AI: <\/strong>Zuckerberg Is So Desperate for AI Power That He’s Building Temporary Data Centers in Tents<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The post AI Data Centers Accused of Creating Major Problems for Local Water Systems<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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