Mayor: Data center water use in Cheyenne is far below city supply, other local industries

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins recently informed the Wyoming Legislature's Select Water Committee that data centers in the capital city consume a minimal amount of water, significantly less than other local industries and residential lawn irrigation. Collins highlighted that existing data centers use approximately 200 acre-feet of water annually, which is less than 1% of the city's available water supply. During the meeting, Collins provided comparisons, stating that all data centers combined use less than half the water of a single quarter-section alfalfa farm. He also noted that modern data centers often employ closed-loop cooling systems, drastically reducing their water footprint, with some using as little as two acre-feet per year. The mayor projected that even with more than 70 data centers, the total water usage would remain around 400 acre-feet annually, or about 1.8% of the city's yearly available supply. Beyond water, Mayor Collins addressed other city expectations and regulations for data center developers. He mentioned requirements for developers to pay 100% of the cost of power infrastructure to prevent impacts on homeowners and businesses, utilizing Black Hills Energy's Large Power Contract Service Tariff. Additionally, Cheyenne has established noise and light regulations for these facilities, a result of lessons learned from earlier data center developments. Collins emphasized his refusal to sign non-disclosure agreements with potential developers, asserting his commitment to transparency as an elected official and expressing confidence that Cheyenne and Wyoming are benefiting from the data center industry while managing its challenges through established regulations and technology requirements.