Fayetteville, GA: A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed -- until residents complained about low water pres

[Eugene]

Source: Politico

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

By Arianna Skibell
05/09/2026 02:00 PM EDT

The neighbors of a data center in Georgia are steaming after they discovered the facility had sucked up nearly 30 million gallons of water — without initially paying for it.

Outrage started bubbling up last year when residents of an affluent subdivision named Annelise Park in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed their water pressure was unusually low.

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.

All told, the developer, Quality Technology Services, owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of unaccounted-for water. That is equivalent to 44 Olympic-size swimming pools and far exceeds the peak limit agreed to during the data center planning process.

-snip-

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

[dickthegrouch]

1. Aren't RICO fines tripled?

Asking for a fiend.

[patphil]

2. This is theft, and should be treated as such.

It shouldn't be a matter of just paying the bill, there should be a hefty fine, and jail time for the perpetrators.
If they didn't get caught, I bet they would have just continued to steal water indefinitely.

[Seinan Sensei]

8. And if no one goes to jail, the problem will continue

[3Hotdogs]

10. At least the head computer chip aught'a do a year or two. In other words,

don't hold your breath.

[TheRickles]

3. A taste of things to come, I'm afraid.

[relogic]

4. The monster must be fed.

Bernie Sanders has been sounding the alarm about the this emptying of of our precious water into the ai data centers around the country and just as frightening the out-of-control ai dominance impacting our labor, economy, political, governess and media.

[struggle4progress]

5. grand theft hydro

[BeneteauBum]

6. These data centers will ruin the nearby environment

Excess heat, tremendous power usage, and depleting local water sources. The corporations backing this industry don’t give a damn about anything except lining their own pockets. It just seems this country is hell bent on self destruction.

Peace ☮️

[pfitz59]

7. Aquifiers around the country are already stressed

Waste cooling water being returned to streams and rivers will impact local ecology. I doubt these data centers are incorporating cooling towers and ponds

[FakeNoose]

9. So now the data center has to pic up and move, am I right?

They'll go somewhere and steal another community's water, rinse and repeat.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

11. Kick

[littlemissmartypants]

12. Owned by Blackstone... remember them?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Inc.

QTS operates[when?] 28 data center locations across the United States and Netherlands in the following areas:

United States
edit
Arizona
California
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Kansas
New Jersey
Oregon
Texas
Virginia
Ohio
Colorado
Iowa
South Carolina
Utah
Netherlands
edit
Eemshaven
Groningen
United Kingdom
edit
Cambois, Northumberland (First phase will be completed in 2026)[33][34][35][36][37][31]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Technology_Services

Looks like they're moving fast and breaking things. Oh, well. I hope nobody was planning on watering any peach trees.