by Dave Williams | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – An Atlanta-based environmental advocate is criticizing the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) decision to pause state reviews of new data center proposals.
While the decision will not stop local governments from approving data center projects, it will rob local water planners of the state’s valuable input, Chris Manganiello, water policy director for the nonprofit group Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, said Thursday.
“Rather than the state helping regions think through this stuff, it’s going to leave planners flying blind,” he said. “We’ll end up with a patchwork of moratoria and ordinances at the local level addressing data center development.”
Manganiello’s comments came during the kickoff meeting of a Georgia House subcommittee examining the potential impacts of the growing number of data centers springing up across the state on water use. A second subcommittee is looking at how data centers are likely to affect consumption of electricity.
Data centers have exploded so quickly that elected officials in DeKalb, Coweta, Douglas, and Bartow counties have imposed moratoria on new projects. The Atlanta City Council voted last month to prohibit data centers from setting up in some neighborhoods and require developers to seek a special-use permit for construction.
Danny Johnson, director of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, told water subcommittee members more than 50 data centers are operating currently in Georgia while more than 40 more have been proposed.
Data centers use huge quantities of water, with a typical data center consuming the same amount of water per day as the cities of Marietta or Valdosta, he said.
However, data center developers have proven willing to install water-saving strategies including “closed-loop cooling” to reduce their water consumption, even though such technology is expensive.
“We encourage smart, sustainable development that ensures critical infrastructure like data centers can thrive without compromising our water resources,” Jackson said.
“The data center industry remains committed to responsible water use in Georgia communities,” added Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Northern Virginia-based Data Center Coalition. “Data centers prioritize efficient water practices and responsible management to minimize their water footprint.”
Manganiello suggested that the General Assembly put limits on tax incentives the state offers to attract “high-resource use facilities” to Georgia requiring that they disclose how much electricity and water they plan to use. A bipartisan bill to that effect sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, failed to gain traction during this year’s legislative session.
Manganiello also recommended that the state use tax credits to incentivize data centers to employ water-saving technology and establish a self-sustaining infrastructure fund to help support data centers.
The water subcommittee will hold two more meetings in South Georgia – one in Moultrie next month and the other in Claxton in September – before issuing findings and recommendations.
