Data centers consume millions of gallons of Arizona water daily
MESA, AZ — Massive buildings are sprouting from our desert landscapes, their footprints normally more than a million square feet. The structures are filled with computer servers processing and storing huge amounts of data.
“This recent one is on 196 acres, it’s going to be divided into three phases,” said Mesa Vice Mayor Jenn Duff.
Duff is the only city council member to vote no on a recently approved $800 million data center - rumored to be for Facebook - after discovering the facility would eventually use 1.75 million gallons of water every day for cooling their rows of servers once fully operational. This as state reservoirs like Lake Mead and rivers like the Colorado are so low that federal restrictions are likely to be triggered on Arizona’s water allocation as early as next year.
“So, when I think about that and I think about the huge impact of a data center that uses water for cooling, it’s something I felt wasn’t a good use of water for our city,” said Duff.
She says it’s the eighth data center approved in the City of Mesa and while they do generate millions in state taxes and fees for the water and electricity, the newest facility, like many others, will only employ around 150 people.
“They’re not high-income jobs and they don’t employ a lot of people that’s for sure,” said Duff.
“If you want to bring in new businesses and industries that are going to be water use intensive, that should be more heavily scrutinized,” said Dr. Christopher Castro, Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona who agrees with Duff’s apprehensions. “So, my question to them is where exactly is this water coming from? Is it sustainable? Are you accounting for our conditions of being in a long-term 20-year megadrought?”
Right now, that water source would be drawing from the same one soon to be requiring cuts from our agriculture industry and possibly others in the future. That’s not to say companies running these data centers aren’t trying to reduce their water footprint.
Some use air conditioning systems while others are experimenting with using methods like free-air cooling, which uses fresh outdoor air to cool a space. However, it only works in cooler climates.
“If you want to talk about things like maybe using reclaimed or recycled water, treated wastewater, then those are perhaps more viable solutions,” said Castro.
As of now, that’s not the case with this latest approval or a Google data center currently under construction in Mesa. Once completed, the new facility alone will use the same amount of water on a daily basis as 9,200 homes. Duff says it was something she just couldn't ignore.
“If we weren’t in this cut back already, it might be different, but we are in a danger zone in my opinion,” said Duff.
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Quarterly Drought Status Update: JANUARY - MARCH 2021
Home Source: https://new.azwater.gov/drought/drought-status
Dry conditions during the January through March period led to the expansion of Exceptional Drought (D4) through northern Navajo and eastern Apache and Coconino counties, as well as through east central Arizona.
Additionally, Extreme Drought (D3) expanded across northern and central Arizona and throughout Pinal and Pima counties.
The few pockets of no drought or Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions were replaced by Moderate (D1) or Severe Drought (D2).
While snowpack accumulated throughout a few locations, it was short-lived, and any potential run-off from the early melt-out was reduced by the already dry soils.
Streamflows and inflows into reservoirs are low as a result of the dry conditions.
This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, April 14, 2021. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update in early July, it will reflect the conditions of April, May and June. The long-term drought status for each watershed is determined by comparing the precipitation and streamflow percentiles for the past 24, 36, 48 and 60 months to a 40-year historical record.
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1 2019 Bill Jabjiniak, Mesa’s economic development director, said the boom is no coincidence and represents eight years of planning to lure the high-tech companies and their high-paying jobs to Mesa.
This "Alley" isn't transforming struggling west Mesa and it's nowhere near the light-rail line. Instead, it's centered on the "Elliott Avenue Technology Corridor" in far southeast Mesa, the location of agriculture, desert, and the former Williams Air Force Base. Now, with abundant concrete, gravel, and asphalt, it will expand the increasingly dangerous Phoenix urban heat island. The "Corridor" is entirely car dependent.
Data centers are lowest on the ladder of the tech economy: necessary, but bringing few jobs — much less high-end jobs — and several headaches. This is why they are usually found in rural areas desperate to replace their lost millwork, manufacturing, or railroad jobs. States and localities shell out huge incentives and disappointment follows. . .
Another problem with Data Center Alley: These massive server farms are water hogs. Elsewhere, they contribute to climate change because of their enormous appetite for electricity. Maybe Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station helps Mesa here. It's only built upwind of the nation's fifth most populous city.
And no evidence has emerged that data centers are a gateway to more advanced tech work. Metro Phoenix got nowhere in its bid for Amazon HQ2.
Read more closely and it's clear that Mesa's "technology corridor" is yet another Arizona real-estate hustle, dependent on cheap farmland and tilt-up buildings, plus a heapin' helping of tax breaks — in a state that ranks second from last in per-student funding. . .
After All These Years The Time Is (Almost) Right To Hit Pay-Dirt: City Planner Tom Ellsworth + The 4-in-One Zoning Case
There's $800,000,000 on-the-table and on the agenda for Capital Improvement Project for discussion . . .
Christened the "inner loop" by those in the planning effort, it's the area near Loop 202 around Elliot and Hawes Road. Much of the land falls within Maricopa County and will require annexation into Mesa before development could take off. . . BRIEF
The data center will be built on 187 acres of farmland in the Elliot Road Technology Corridor, which already has five existing or planned data centers. Construction is expected to begin within five years, with the first part of the data center projected to be in place by 2025.
That led Mayor John Giles to declare the deal a "home run."
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