Gerry McGovernMay 10

A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure

Residents in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed low water pressure last year. The utility discovered two unaccounted-for water connections at one of the nation’s largest data center campuses.

“We get this notification from Fayette County water system saying you need to stop watering your lawns to help conserve water."

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988

A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure

Residents in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed low water pressure last year. The utility discovered two unaccounted-for water connections at one of the nation’s largest data center campuses.

Politico
Show threadGerry McGovernMay 10

How the data centers operate. Always in secrecy.

"When the county utility investigated, officials discovered two industrial-scale water hookups feeding a data center campus located 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta. One water connection had been installed without the utility’s knowledge, and the other was not linked to the company’s account and therefore wasn’t being billed."

https://www.flyingpenguin.com/datacenter-sprawl-pushes-georgia-into-dangerous-water/

In other places, they don't have to steal the water: they get it for free.

Datacenter Sprawl Pushes Georgia Into Dangerous Waters | flyingpenguin

Show threadYimby EarthMay 10
@gerrymcgovern
Sounds to me like the utility ought to just cut the connection instantly and charge the owner with sabotage.
Show threadJeroenMay 10
@YimbyEarth @gerrymcgovern Criminal charges for management authorizing this would also make sense.
Show threadPaul SchoeMay 10

@J2

Criminal charges for management?

Making directors responsible for things that they allow to happen in their company?

What an odd approach.

Haven't you learned the first rule of unregulated capitalism?

You can fine a company, but you can never criminally charge the directors whose actions resulted in the criminal actions of their companies. /s

#Capitalism #Unregulated #UnregulatedCapitalism

@YimbyEarth @gerrymcgovern

Show threadJeroenMay 10
@paulschoe @YimbyEarth @gerrymcgovern Yes, I know. But this is plain theft. Which I think would be a different category. Wether you like it or not, the water company owned that water.
Show threadGerry McGovernMay 10

@J2
Plain theft. Just like Big Tech AI stole all our intellectual property to then sell it back to us? Just like bitcoin? Big Tech and the modern Internet is built on theft and criminality from the ground up. But the tech bros own the politicians, so it's not theft, it's innovation.

@paulschoe @YimbyEarth

Show threadChris FoxMay 10
@gerrymcgovern @J2 @paulschoe @YimbyEarth Perhaps they are just assuming the same weird and obtuse interpretation of eminent domain rights as numerous oil and gas pipeline companies in the US? (I.e what's yours is mine, if I have adopted a business model that requires me to expropriate it.)
Show threadPaul SchoeMay 10

@foxcj

That approach makes me think more about the modern IT/AI inustry.

Show threadChris Fox
@paulschoe I guess there's a long history; letters patent, enclosure acts, colonialism, etc. Essentially any human activity involving exploitation of a power imbalance. In this case, the victims include other corporate entities. Something, something, class-struggle, etc.
May 10 at 2:45pmWeb