A recent Politico E&E News report on xAI's decision to halt construction on a promised water recycling facility in Memphis, Tennessee, featured a quote from NGWA Scientists and Engineers Section Vice President R. Jeffrey Davis, PE, CGWP, CWRE, highlighting the broader implications for groundwater stewardship as the data center industry continues to expand.
The xAI data center, known as Colossus, has been drawing from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for the Memphis area, while a planned water reuse facility that would have provided the data center with recycled water has stalled.
The company announced in April that it was pausing construction on the plant, citing a need to prioritize completion of a second data center.
Davis, who is principal at Integral Consulting Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, offered perspective on what the situation reflects about current industry norms.
"Across the country, water reuse is widely discussed as a best practice, but in many places it remains optional rather than expected," Davis said. His comments underscore a challenge NGWA has been actively working to address at the national level.
Davis leads NGWA’s Data Center Task Force. Click here to read the article.
NGWA recently underscored the critical role groundwater professionals play in helping communities manage water resources responsibly as data centers expand across the United States with the Association’s latest position paper and a three-part series in its monthly trade magazine, Water Well Journal.
The position paper notes that data center growth must be planned and managed in a manner that protects groundwater resources that are relied upon by communities and ecosystems. It adds that policymakers, regulators, and data center developers need to incorporate groundwater sustainability into siting, permitting, and operational decisions, including clear disclosure of water sources and use.
Both the position paper and three-part article series can be found on the Associations' website dedicated to data centers titled Issue: Data Centers and Groundwater.
NGWA will host a members-only webinar, Data Centers and Groundwater: What NGWA Members Need to Know, on August 5 that will be co-presented by Davis. Click here to register.