{"id":243904,"date":"2026-05-11T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/data-center-used-30-million-gallons-of-water-without-initially-paying\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:40:14","slug":"data-center-used-30-million-gallons-of-water-without-initially-paying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/data-center-used-30-million-gallons-of-water-without-initially-paying\/","title":{"rendered":"Data center used 30 million gallons of water without initially paying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data center used 30 million gallons of water without initially paying<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2026\/05\/data-center-used-30-million-gallons-of-water-without-initially-paying\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-11 16:37:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: arstechnica.com<\/a><\/p>\n

In a letter to Congress last month, more than 120 organizations advocating against rushed data center developments warned lawmakers that it\u2019s not enough to focus legislation on addressing spiking electricity bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater use is equally alarming,\u201d among other harms, groups said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn drought-prone regions,\u201d groups explained, data centers consuming up to 5 million gallons a day strain \u201cdrinking water supplies, agriculture, and ecosystems.\u201d Meanwhile, closed-loop systems \u201crequire the use of toxic chemicals that, if not properly disposed of, can eventually flow and pollute water ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

To avoid disastrous consequences for the country\u2019s water supply, groups recommended that Congress pass laws requiring comprehensive environmental reviews prior to construction. They also want Congress to commit to rejecting \u201cany legislation that would fast-track permitting and development for hyperscale, artificial intelligence, and other conventional data centers\u201d through the end of this legislative session.<\/p>\n

Some efforts to protect water resources have had limited success, as backlash over secretive deals allowing data center developments without public notice increases.<\/p>\n

In Utah, one hyperscale data center in Box Elder County withdrew an application to transfer 1,900 acre-feet of water from a ranch to their facility. About 4,000 residents paid about $15 each to file notices of opposition to block that request, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. But although that battle was won, residents expect the larger fight to be far from over.<\/p>\n

As the war against data centers rages on beyond Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune editorial board published an op-ed, warning that officials risk eroding trust the more they shrug off residents\u2019 reasonable concerns about things like water supplies, electric bills, air quality, and quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the data center isn\u2019t as dreadful as feared\u2014or if it never is actually built\u2014the stench attached to the…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data center used 30 million gallons of water without initially paying https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2026\/05\/data-center-used-30-million-gallons-of-water-without-initially-paying\/ Publish Date: 2026-05-11…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2191236730-1152x648.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-243904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243906,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243904\/revisions\/243906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}