New Florence AWS data center to tap local aquifer for water

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is proceeding with its "Project Green" data center in New Florence, Montgomery County, Missouri. The facility plans to extract water from the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer through high-yield wells drilled to depths of 1,500 feet to prevent interference with local private wells.

According to a report by CDM Smith, the entire 17-building campus is projected to use approximately 50 million gallons of water annually, which is comparable to a golf course's water usage. Scott Kaden, Groundwater Section chief at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR), confirmed that this level of water usage is common for high-yield wells across the state, including for public water supply and irrigation. He noted that the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer holds over 23 trillion gallons of groundwater in the region and is currently only 8% in use, with the data center adding a mere 0.03% to this total.

While heavy water users like Project Green are required to report their usage to MoDNR, Missouri, as a riparian state, does not have specific regulations on water consumption, allowing landowners to use water flowing through their property as long as it doesn't affect neighbors. Long-term monitoring cited in CDM Smith's report indicates stable or increasing water levels in the aquifer, despite some localized variations. MoDNR projections anticipate that by 2060, only 17% of the aquifer's natural refill rate will be used in the data center's region, suggesting sustainable water sourcing.