Water policy advocate calls for more transparency around data center projects
Microsoft recently reversed its policy requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for data center projects, citing community relations issues. However, a Great Lakes water policy advocate emphasizes that broader transparency problems persist, particularly regarding data centers' significant water and energy consumption and the lack of state-level reporting requirements.
Jonathan Noble, Microsoft's senior director of infrastructure and government affairs, recently discussed the company's decision to reverse its policy on requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for data center projects, including a multi-billion dollar hyperscale project in southeastern Wisconsin. Speaking at a webinar hosted by the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers, Noble acknowledged that NDAs were counterproductive to community relations efforts, especially given the scale of current infrastructure development. He emphasized Microsoft's commitment to sharing water and energy usage data with local communities and utilities.
However, Helena Volzer, senior source water policy manager for the Alliance for the Great Lakes, countered that Noble overlooked the broader lack of transparency by tech companies in the data center sector. While NDAs are common in economic development, Volzer argued that the massive water and energy demands of data centers make public concerns acute. She asserted that NDAs obscure resource usage, challenging states' ability to predict demand and fueling public worries about resource-intensive development with low direct employment generation.
Volzer praised Microsoft's policy reversal as a positive step but cautioned that it's not a mandatory requirement for other companies. She highlighted that about 97% of data centers use public water supplies, and despite some touting closed-loop systems, states lack clear insight into the sector's true water consumption. Volzer called for ongoing transparency and mandatory water use reporting requirements for data centers, emphasizing that Microsoft's action, while commendable, is only one company's approach in a broader industry.