B4
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021
Data centers spark worry over water scarcity
By ANDREW SELSKY
and MANUEL VALDES
Associated Press
THE DALLES — Con-
fl icts over water are as old
as history itself, but the mas-
sive Google data centers on
the edge of this Oregon town
on the Columbia River repre-
sent an emerging 21st century
concern.
Now a critical part of mod-
ern computing, data centers
help people stream movies
on Netfl ix, conduct transac-
tions on PayPal, post updates
on Facebook, store trillions
of photos and more. But a
single facility can also churn
through millions of gallons of
water per day to keep hot-run-
ning equipment cool.
Google wants to build at
least two more data centers
in The Dalles, worrying some
residents who fear there even-
tually 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 some mild
pushback as tech companies
build and expand data centers
— confl icts likely to grow as
water becomes a more pre-
cious resource amid the threat
of climate change and as the
demand for cloud comput-
ing grows. Some tech giants
have been using cutting-edge
research and development to
fi nd less impactful cooling
methods, but there are those
who say the companies can
still do more to be environ-
mentally sustainable.
The concerns are under-
standable in The Dalles, the
seat of Wasco County, which
is suff ering extreme and
exceptional drought, accord-
ing to the U.S. Drought Mon-
itor. The region last summer
endured its hottest days on
record, reaching 118 degrees
Fahrenheit in The Dalles.
The Dalles is adjacent
to the the mighty Columbia
River, but the new data cen-
ters wouldn’t be able to use
that water and instead would
Andrew Selsky/AP Photo
Mayor Richard Mays looks at the view of his town and the Columbia River from his hilltop home in The Dalles.
have to take water from riv-
ers 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 gla-
ciers are melting. Most aqui-
fers in north-central Ore-
gon are declining, according
to the U.S. Geological Sur-
vey 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 sched-
uled to vote on the proposal
on Nov. 8, had to wait until
this week to fi nd 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 pur-
chased 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, Ander-
son said.
“The city comes out
ahead,” he said.
For its part, Google said
it’s “committed to the long-
term health of the coun-
ty’s economy and natural
resources.”
“We’re
excited
that
we’re continuing conversa-
tions with local offi cials on
an agreement that allows us
to keep growing while also
supporting the community,”
Google said, adding that the
expansion proposal includes
a potential aquifer program to
store water and increase sup-
ply during drier periods.
The U.S. hosts 30% of
the world’s data centers,
more than any other coun-
try. Some data centers are
trying to become more effi -
cient in water consumption,
for example by recycling
the same water several times
through a center before dis-
charging 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 fi rst data cen-
ter took advantage of the cold
high-desert air in Prineville
to chill its servers, and went
a step further when it built a
center in Lulea, Sweden, near
the Arctic Circle.
Microsoft even placed a
small data center, enclosed in
what looks like a giant cigar,
on the seafl oor off Scotland.
After retrieving the barna-
cle-encrusted container last
year after two years, company
employees saw improvement
in overall reliability because
the servers weren’t subjected
to temperature fl uctuations
and corrosion from oxygen
and humidity. Team leader
Ben Cutler said the experi-
ment shows data centers can
be kept cool without tapping
freshwater resources.
A study published in May
by researchers at Virginia
Tech and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory showed
one-fi fth of data centers rely
on water from moderately to
highly stressed watersheds.
Tech companies typically
consider tax breaks and avail-
ability of cheap electricity
and land when placing data
centers, said study co-author
Landon Marston, assistant
professor of civil and envi-
ronmental engineering at Vir-
ginia Tech.
They need to consider
water impacts more seri-
ously, and put the facilities
in regions where they can be
better sustained, both for the
good of the environment and
their own bottom line, Mar-
ston said.
“It’s also a risk and resil-
ience issue that data centers
and their operators need to
face, because the drought that
we’re seeing in the West is
expected to get worse,” Mar-
ston said.
About an hour’s drive
east of The Dalles, Amazon
is giving back some of the
water its massive data cen-
ters use. Amazon’s sprawling
campuses, spread between
Boardman and Umatilla, butt
up against farmland, a cheese
factory and neighborhoods.
Like many data centers, they
use water primarily in sum-
mer, with the servers being
air-cooled the rest of the year.
About two-thirds of the
water Amazon uses evapo-
rates. The rest is treated and
sent to irrigation canals that
feed crops and pastures.
Umatilla City Manager
Dave Stockdale appreciates
that farms and ranches are
getting that water, since the
main issue the city had as
Amazon’s facilities grew was
that the city water treatment
plant couldn’t have handled
the data centers’ discharge.
John DeVoe, executive
director of WaterWatch of
Oregon, which seeks reform
of water laws to protect and
restore rivers, criticized it as
a “corporate feel good tactic.”
“Does it actually mitigate
for any harm of the server
farm’s actual use of water
on other interests who may
also be using the same source
water, like the environment,
fi sh and wildlife?” DeVoe
said.
Adam Selipsky, CEO
of Amazon Web Services,
insists that Amazon feels a
sense of responsibility for its
impacts.
“We have intentionally
been very conscious about
water usage in any of these
projects,” he said, adding
that the centers brought eco-
nomic activity and jobs to the
region.
Dawn Rasmussen, who
lives on the outskirts of The
Dalles, worries that her town
is making a mistake in negoti-
ating 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.
If not
for you,
for them.
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