Data centers are being built all over Georgia and are looking for opportunities in the Satilla River watershed. Before bringing data centers into the watershed transparency is needed to make responsible decisions that can have lasting impacts.
What is a data center?
A data center is a facility that houses computer systems and servers. Smaller data centers are the size of one to multiple football fields. A facility under construction in Fayette County, GA will occupy 850 acres when complete. These facilities are used to store data ranging from medical records, to emails, and even this website; they also process search requests at very high speeds plus the complex and large numbers of computations and iterations that are part of artificial intelligence programs and processes. Anything that is stored or processed in the "cloud" is housed and occurs in data centers. These large amounts of activity performed by many millions of micro-processing chips consumes vast amounts of electricity and generate vast amounts of heat. The cooling facilities at these centers consume even more electricity and also water. As we continue to embrace technology, the demand for data centers will increase. Data centers are not required to reside within the state of Georgia (they don't have to be here in order to serve us); however, data centers are moving into Georgia because land, water, and power is cheaper when compared to other states, and because state and local governments are offering incentives to locate here, causing rapid data center growth throughout the state.
Data centers can have open-looped, or closed-looped water-cooled systems to protect the computer equipment. Data centers require large amounts of electricity, equivalent to or even exceeding what local municipalities use.
Increases in electrical use has caused retired coal-fired plants along the Ocmulgee River just north of Macon and elsewhere in Georgia to come back online. This has renewed vast amounts of water use in Georgia rivers that had decreased as we moved from older, dirtier technology to more modern sources of energy. The ash from burning coal in and near communities just as Juliette GA, already proven to have contaminated groundwater and polluted drinking wells, causing scores of crippling and deadly cases of cancer for local citizens, is now being again placed in unlined pits. Increases in new-plant construction, plus burning fossil (‘natural’) gas and coal, has increased the power bill for every business and citizen in Georgia, already, and is expected to continue. Farmers, who typically irrigate using electricity, are facing higher and higher input costs in the face of weak commodity prices. Data centers, no matter where they are located, cause pain, death, and increased expense all over Georgia.
Open-looped (once through) cooling systems withdraw (from the ground or rivers) and consume more than closed-looped ('recycling') systems water to cool computer equipment. Used water is then discharged. The temperature of discharged water can be an issue. Open-looped systems are more energy-efficient than closed-loop systems, but present more local environmental risk.
Closed-looped systems withdraw and consume less water to cool computer equipment, but use vast amounts of electricity as the water is repeatedly heated and cooled, causing environmental damage elsewhere as discussed above. Discharge from a closed-looped system only occurs during cleaning (‘backwashing’) the primary contaminants contained in the concentrated ‘scale’ that builds up in piping the amount of which depends upon what’s in the source water and the particular heat/cool technology. So, while a closed-loop system is much more water-efficient, posing less risk to local resources, it is much less energy-efficient, causing economic and environmental damage across a much broader area.
What do the data center neighbors say?
From all over Georgia, residents have shared stories of what happens when a data center moves into their community. Neighbors have noticed:
24 hour light pollution
24 hour noise
Heavy dust associated with construction
Excessive stormwater runoff during and after construction
Residential water wells have run dry
Increased sedimentation in residential water wells
Utility bill increases
Transmission lines running through private property, with the government using eminent domain to condemn private property to give to a private company (the power company) for a supposed 'public' use (the data center) which in actuality is a private, for-profit operation
Decreased property values
And, in areas with a lot of underlying bedrock, damage to foundations, walls, roofs, and personal belonging from blasting during construction
If a data center is coming to your community, demand transparency. The local government should be REQUIRED to make public key information. The local government will very often claim that they cannot reveal info due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This veil MUST be penetrated.
Here are a few of many questions to ask:
Has a NDA been signed?
Will the local government consider an ordinance to ban NDA’s for data centers, possibly for other types of developments?
Will the local government consider a temporary moratorium on data centers while the citizens and government consider the proper ordinance structure to prevent and/or control damage from placement and operations of centers?
Are tax breaks being offered to bring in data centers?
What will the tax revenue look like? Does it phase in? How will that revenue be used for local purposes?
Will additional substations be built to support the power demand? How many and where? Who will foot that bill?
Will additional transmission lines be required to support the facility? Where will those lines be placed? Who will foot that bill? Will eminent domain be used?
What strains will this cause on our water infrastructure (built and natural)? Who will pay for any additional infrastructure required?
What effects will there be on other infrastructure? Who will pay for that?
Is this a closed- or open-looped system? How much water will be required? Where will that water come from? Where will the water be discharged? At what temperature will that water be upon discharge? What will be in that water?
How will our hydrology be impacted? Will the water table drop? Will wetlands run dry? Will water levels in our creeks, streams, and river drop?
Who gets the water during drought protocols?
How much power will be required, and how will it be powered?
How will the data center impact air quality?
How will the data center affect noise levels measured at their property line?
How will the data center affect the amount of light a night, both at their property line and viewed from 1, 5, or even 10 miles away?
What will happen with the additional stormwater runoff, both during and after construction?
How many jobs will the data center bring post construction? What education and experience levels do those jobs require? How much will they pay?
How many data centers is the county looking to bring in? Where exactly?
During heatwaves or intense cold snaps or ice storms, could we see rolling blackouts from additional strain on our power grid?
What does the future look like for these facilities as technology improves and these massive facilities are rendered useless? Will we then have acres upon acres of empty buildings, with a lot of rooftops and paved areas generating stormwater runoff, and literally nothing that they can be used for, with no additional property taxes being paid?
Contact your local county commissioners and voice your concerns before data centers move in and our resources are exploited.
