Could data centers help fix St. Louis' aging water infrastructure?

St. Louis's water infrastructure, featuring 1,300 miles of water mains, is rapidly aging, leading to a high number of breaks, with 399 recorded last year. Neeraj Patel, Director of the St. Louis Water Division, stated that over $700 million in capital investment is needed to address the issue. The city's water treatment plant was built for a population of over 800,000, but the current population is much lower. Despite the infrastructure's age, the water system has significant unused capacity, currently pumping only 125 million gallons per day (MGD) compared to its 360 MGD capability. Patel indicates that even an increase to 130 MGD would not be a challenge. City officials are considering data centers as a new type of customer that could generate substantial revenue by utilizing this excess capacity, thereby supporting the necessary infrastructure repairs and benefiting all city water users. The arrival of five new hyperscale data centers, for instance, would barely impact the system's vast capacity.