Georgians outraged after data center drains 30M – Business News
Residents of a suburban Georgia city are livid after they found a huge new data center had guzzled up 30 million gallons of water with out initially paying for it – leaving members of the populace with weak water strain during a drought.
Georgians residing in Annelise Park, a mansion-packed neighborhood in Fayetteville, which has a roughly 20,000 population, seen final yr that their water strain was unusually weak, in keeping with a Politico report.
A county investigation discovered a close by 6.6 million-square-foot data center project by Quality Technology Services, a Blackstone-owned developer, was guilty, in keeping with the publication.
A sunken boat is uncovered by receding water ranges on Lake Lanier in Georgia because the state suffers from droughts. AP
Two industrial-scale water hookups had been linked to the campus – however one was put in with out alerting the native county utility, and the opposite was not linked to QTS’s account, so neither had been being charged, in keeping with a May 15, 2025 letter from the Fayette County water system to QTS.
QTS owed practically $150,000 for draining more than 29 million gallons of water, the letter said. That’s enough to fill 44 Olympic-size swimming swimming pools, or roughly 3 times the quantity used day by day to water lawns throughout all the nation.
The developer instructed The Post it paid all retroactive expenses as quickly because it was notified by the county. The county’s water system claimed the billing lapse was attributable to a procedural slip-up, including that the data center’s meters at the moment are totally built-in and tracked.
But tensions heated up after native officers inspired Fayetteville residents to cut back on watering their lawns amid a state of emergency from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, as Georgia faces state-wide droughts and the worst wildfire outbreaks in years.
James Clifton, an lawyer who’s working for a seat on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, obtained the 2025 letter to QTS and posted it on Facebook final week, prompting outrage from residents.
On Sunday, he posted a picture that appeared to show sprinklers watering the lawns close to the QTS Fayetteville website, claiming there was “nearly continuous watering of the landscape … despite the State of Georgia being in a Stage 1 drought.”
“We get this notification from Fayette County water system saying you need to stop watering your lawns to help conserve water,” Clifton instructed Politico.
“So the first thing they do is lean on the individuals and the citizens to stop water consumption when we have QTS that’s just absolutely draining us – most months it’s the No. 1 consumer of water in the county,” he added.
The QTS data center complicated in Fayetteville, Ga., continues to be underneath development. Bloomberg through Getty Images
Clifton, Blackstone and the Fayette County water system didn’t instantly reply to The Post’s requests for remark.
Local officers have defended the project, saying the QTS website, which is one of the most important within the nation, will generate tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in annual property taxes.
But it’s simply the newest occasion of Americans revolting in opposition to data center tasks of their neighborhoods — growing annoyed with the environmental impression, the potential to hike their utility payments, the drain on the native water provide, and noise and light-weight air pollution.
In close by Coweta County, Ga., residents are preventing in opposition to one other website referred to as “Project Sail,” a proposed 800-acre data center.
“Coweta County … think Fayetteville is loving their data center? This is what we have to look forward to,” a member of a Facebook group with 5,500 members opposing the location wrote in a social media post.
Last week, lots of of livid Utah residents packed a native gymnasium and erupted in chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as county commissioners pushed by means of a colossal data center project from “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.
The complicated is predicted to eat more than twice the electrical energy at present utilized by all the state of Utah, however locals have decried what they referred to as a rushed approval course of that gave locals little say within the matter.
A Facebook post from James Clifton appeared to show sprinklers watering the panorama on the QTS website. Facebook / James Clifton
Small-town Missourians final month grew so outraged over a $6 billion data center project that they ousted a number of councilmembers who backed the location.
In Fayetteville, QTS instructed The Post it should use a “closed-loop” cooling system that permits it to keep away from utilizing tons of water – saying its consumption was unusually high final yr as a result of of momentary construction-related wants.
Once the location is operational, it should solely need water for loos and kitchens, which can whole roughly the use of 4 households a month, the company added.
But the project continues to be in development, that means the county may see greater water utilization for one more three to 5 years, in keeping with Politico.
Residents are additionally livid that the data center developer isn’t being charged a effective for initially skimping out on water funds.
“It’s just frustrating to see them come into our community and run all over us like the citizens don’t matter, and then they’re above the law when they do break it,” Clifton instructed Politico.
Gregory Pierce, director of the UCLA Water Resource Group, stated it’s uncommon the county utility isn’t fining the location – however that it may very well be a business determination meant to placate the developer.
“I don’t know exactly what’s happening here, but they probably don’t want to upset one of their new and largest customers,” Pierce instructed the outlet.
James Clifton, an lawyer who’s working for a seat on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. Facebook / James Clifton
Vanessa Tigert, director of the Fayette County water system, defended the choice, saying QTS is “our largest customer, and we have to be partners. It’s called customer service.”
Tigert stated the water hookups went unnoticed as a result of the connection course of “got mixed up” because the county transitioned to a new cloud-based system, and that her division is short-staffed.
“Just like any water system, we don’t have enough staff. We can’t keep staff,” she instructed Politico. “I’ve got one person that’s doing inspections and plan review, and so he’s spread pretty thin.”
She additionally stated it’s potential that her workers did know concerning the hookups, however that she simply wasn’t capable of find the inspection report.
