Satisfying Big Tech’s big thirst
Proposed Google data centers threaten to further stretch water supplies in Ore. county
THE DALLES, Ore. — Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st-century concern.
Data centers are a critical part of modern computing. They help people stream movies on Netflix, conduct transactions on PayPal, post updates on Facebook, store trillions of photos and more. But a single facility can churn through millions of gallons of water per day to keep hot-running equipment cool.
Google wants to build at least two more data centers in The Dalles, worrying some residents who fear there eventually won’t be enough water for everyone — including for area farms and fruit orchards, which are by far the biggest users.
Across the United States, there has been pushback as tech companies build and expand data centers — conflicts likely to grow as water becomes a more precious resource amid the threat of climate change and the growing demand for cloud computing.
The concerns are understandable in The Dalles, the seat of Wasco County, which is suffering extreme and exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The Dalles is adjacent to the Columbia River, but the new data centers wouldn’t be able to use that water and instead would have to take water from rivers and groundwater that has gone through the city’s water treatment plant.
However, the snowpack in the nearby Cascade Range that feeds the aquifers varies wildly year to year and glaciers are melting. Most aquifers in north-central Oregon are declining, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program. Adding to the unease: The 15,000 town residents don’t know how much water the proposed data centers will use, because Google calls it a trade secret. Even the town councilors, who are scheduled to vote on the proposal Nov. 8, had to wait until this week to find out.
Dave Anderson, public works director for The Dalles, said Google obtained the rights to 3.9 million gallons of water per day when it purchased land formerly home to an aluminum smelter. Google is requesting less water for the new data centers than that amount and would transfer those rights to the city, Anderson said.
“The city comes out ahead,” he said. The U.S. hosts 30% of the world’s data centers, more than any other country. Some data centers are trying to become more efficient in water consumption, for example by recycling the same water several times through a center before discharging it. Google even uses treated sewage water, instead of using drinking water as many data centers do, to cool its facility in Douglas County, Georgia.
Facebook’s first data center took advantage of the cold high-desert air in Prineville, Oregon, to chill its servers.
But Dawn Rasmussen, who lives on the outskirts of The Dalles, worries that her town is making a mistake in negotiating with Google, likening it to David versus Goliath. She’s seen the level of her well-water drop year after year and worries sooner or later there won’t be enough for everyone.
“At the end of the day, if there’s not enough water, who’s going to win?” she asked.