EPA Official Agrees to Review Data Center Impacts on Water (1)

During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, an official from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) committed to investigating potential water contamination issues stemming from a large Meta data center project in Morgan County, Georgia.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) initiated the questioning, presenting jars of murky water she claimed were from the affected rural Georgia area. She inquired about the EPA's plans to examine how data centers impact water quality and availability. Jessica Kramer, an assistant administrator leading the EPA’s water office, stated under oath that she would review the concerns, emphasizing the priority of ensuring water quality standards are met regardless of the construction type.

This congressional scrutiny follows Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's recent introduction of a bill, alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), proposing a nationwide moratorium on data center construction. During her visit to Morgan County, Ocasio-Cortez reported that residents attributed their reliance on bottled water and damaged home appliances to 'explosive blasts and tree clearing' associated with the data center's construction.

Meta Inc., which operates the Stanton Springs Data Center near the border of Newton and Morgan counties, responded through spokesperson Ryan Daniels. Daniels asserted that the company collaborates closely with water utilities to avoid negative impacts from its data centers and commissioned an independent groundwater study. This study, according to Meta, concluded that their data center operations and construction had no impact on residents and that all water for construction and operations was sourced from the local utility, not groundwater.