A year's worth of Marysville鈥檚 water laps in a reservoir north of the city. Public service director Jeremy Hoyt said the water level normally sits above the dock, which now sits exposed to the sun.
鈥淵ou can kinda see the staining,鈥� he said pointing to where the stone wall changes in color. 鈥淲e just have not been able to fill it with the drought.鈥�
More businesses have come to rely on this 1.4 billion gallon reservoir in recent years. Hoyt said two data centers, south of the city in Jerome Township, are estimated to drink up around 10% of the central Ohio city鈥檚 daily water capacity. plans to come online in the next couple of years. The city has planned for growth, Hoyt said, but they recently came to a realization:
鈥�We should start curtailing and limiting the use that the data centers have on our water system,鈥� he said.
Ohio ranks in its number of data centers. Among the factors bringing businesses like Meta, Amazon and Google into the state, is a perceived abundance of water, which the centers need to cool their servers.
But as data centers move in, Ohio communities are grappling with how to promote growth while managing the finite resource.
How much water do data centers really need?
The data centers south of Marysville are just 2 of 191 in the state. That number has increased 10%, just from the , according to an analysis of data from .
Though each may cool their servers in a different way, most of the data centers require water. How much depends on its size 鈥� and who you ask.
The New York Times found a large Meta data center in Georgia used as much as . In northwest Ohio, the city of Lima inked an agreement to provide to an undisclosed data center. In Jerome Township, Hoyt estimates that one Amazon data center, on its worst day, uses around 350,000 gallons.
But Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy with the , points to that shows the majority of Virginia data centers used less than 10 million gallons a year. The Virginia Joint Legislative Audit Commission found 83% of data centers used as much or less water than a large office building.
Right now, Ohio data centers鈥� water usage isn鈥檛 easy to pinpoint.
鈥淚n general, we don't have a good sense of what the water use footprint is of a data center,鈥� said Helena Volzer, senior source water policy manager with the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
What are the challenges to managing our water?
That鈥檚 because data centers aren鈥檛 required to disclose the amount of water they use.
Less than a third of data centers track their water use at all, according to the .
Volzer wants Ohio to require companies to disclose their water usage. But, Diorio with the Data Center Coalition, said there are competitive and proprietary concerns with providing the data.
鈥淏ased on your water use, you can determine the type of technology used in the data center. You can also determine the level of [computing]. There's a lot of backwards math that can be done,鈥� he said.
Volzer said more regional water demand studies are just as important. Her organization鈥檚 report found that , instead of groundwater or surface water sources 鈥� making it difficult to see the bigger picture of water consumption across industries.
鈥淚t's hard for local decision makers to consider the broader environmental impact of the water resources 鈥� That's why some of these policies really need to be adopted at the state level rather than a piecemeal approach at the local municipal level.鈥�
How is Ohio preparing?
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) conducted one such regional assessment of central Ohio鈥檚 water needs. They looked at water capacity opportunities and gaps last year.
鈥淕enerally, we have abundant water to meet our needs,鈥� said Edwina Teye, MORPC鈥檚 water and natural resources program manager. 鈥淣ow if we add in industrial capacity or industrial needs, that would be stretching our capacity.鈥�
To keep up with increased demand from booming industry, Teye said central Ohio will need more water and wastewater infrastructure and conservation strategies 鈥� like water reuse. That鈥檚 the process of using non-potable recycled water for industrial needs, like cooling data centers.
鈥淭hat reduces withdrawals of fresh water that can be channeled to meeting our everyday usage, including drinking,鈥� Teye explained.
Data centers are also innovating to reduce their water usage, Diorio said.
鈥淭hese types of inputs are often some of the largest cost drivers for the data center industry. So the industry very much has a built-in incentive to be as efficient as possible across all resources,鈥� he said.
How are local communities reacting?
Still, some municipalities are pumping the brakes.
Jerome Township, served by Marysville鈥檚 water system, passed a moratorium on data centers, citing safety and utility concerns. The village of Lordstown in northeast Ohio is considering an of data centers.
Hoyt, Marysville鈥檚 public service director, said his central Ohio city is not yet turning away data centers. Marysville is weighing both the economic growth a data center can bring and the resources it will use up.
鈥�If somebody wanted 20% of our capacity, but they're creating 20,000 jobs, that's a different conversation than if they're creating 100 jobs,鈥� Hoyt said. 鈥淲e try to look at it holistically, not just from the water perspective, but what鈥檚 going to be best for the community.鈥�
Hoyt said it鈥檚 important that residents understand they鈥檙e not just going with the flow 鈥� they鈥檙e planning. They鈥檝e already bought land for another water plant, in anticipation of increased demand.
