Data center boom impacting Georgia's water resources
The short version: 11Alive spotlights Georgia's data center boom and its strain on local water supplies, raising questions about who's approving these deals and at what cost.
Our Take
Georgia keeps landing on the data center map, and 11Alive's report zeroes in on the part of this buildout that doesn't get enough airtime: water. Chillers and cooling towers can drink millions of gallons a day, and in a state with plenty of agriculture and growing suburbs competing for the same aquifers and rivers, that's not a footnote — it's the whole story.
What's missing from most of these local segments, and probably wasn't the focus here either, is the paper trail. Who approved the water allocations, what did the utility studies actually project, and were residents given a real seat at the table before groundbreaking? Tax abatements and 'economic development' press releases move fast; water permits and public comment periods rarely keep pace, and that gap is where communities get stuck holding the bag on strained wells and rising bills.
Credit to 11Alive for putting a camera on this before it becomes a bigger fight. If you want to see how Georgia's projects stack up against the rest of the national buildout, check our facility map, and if your county is weighing a new campus, our take-action resources can help you find the hearings before the deal's already done.
This is GridWatch the USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 11Alive, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.