'I can't drink the water' - life next to a US data centre

When Beverly Morris retired in 2016, she believed she had found her dream home in Mansfield, Georgia. The area was peaceful, surrounded by trees, and far from the noise of the city. However, her life changed when a large, windowless building was constructed just 400 yards from her house. This building is a data centre, filled with servers and blinking lights, and it is owned by Meta, the company behind Facebook. Data centres like this one are being built all over the United States and the world to support the growing demand for online services and artificial intelligence tools.

Beverly’s problems began after the data centre was built. She noticed that her private well, which supplies her home with water, started having issues. The water pressure dropped, and sediment began to build up. Now, Beverly has to carry buckets of water to flush her toilet, and she had to repair her kitchen plumbing to get water flowing again. Even so, the water from her tap is still dirty, and she is afraid to drink it. She continues to use it for cooking and brushing her teeth, but she worries about her health. Meta says that their data centre did not cause these problems. They hired experts to study the groundwater, and the report said the data centre did not harm the water in the area. Despite this, Beverly feels that her once-perfect home has been ruined.

The rise of data centres is not just a problem for Beverly. Across Georgia and other states, more and more data centres are being built to keep up with the demand for internet services. These centres use a lot of water to keep their servers cool, especially on hot days. Some facilities can use millions of gallons of water in a single day. This has led to concerns about water shortages and pollution. For example, chemicals used during construction can end up in local rivers and streams, making the water cloudy and unsafe. Environmental groups and local residents are worried about the impact on their communities.

Tech companies like Meta and Amazon are aware of these concerns. They say they are working to use less water and to return more water to the environment than they take out. Amazon, for example, is investing in projects to fix leaks, collect rainwater, and use treated wastewater for cooling. They are also working with farmers to reduce pollution in rivers. However, these efforts may not be enough for people like Beverly, who are already dealing with the consequences of living near a data centre. As the need for data centres grows, the challenge will be to balance the benefits of technology with the need to protect basic resources like water. For now, people living near these centres must cope with the changes to their daily lives and hope that companies and governments will find better solutions in the future.