Assembly passes measure to examine impact of data centers on N.J.’s water supply and usage
The New Jersey General Assembly passed Bill A3966 to direct the Department of Environmental Protection to study current and future water use by large-scale data centers. The assessment would examine impacts on drinking water systems, wastewater infrastructure, utility capacity and ratepayers, while potentially informing future legislation.
The New Jersey General Assembly approved Bill A3966, which would authorize the state Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of water consumption by large-scale data centers. The DEP could request information from data center operators, public water systems and wastewater utilities to support the study.
Sponsors Robert Karabinchak, Ravi Bhalla and Alixon Collazos-Gill said the assessment is needed to understand how data center cooling demands could affect communities, infrastructure and utility costs. The measure is intended to complement an ongoing New Jersey Board of Public Utilities study of data centers’ electricity use and would allow the environmental protection commissioner to recommend further legislation governing data center water consumption.