Ahead of schedule, the Western Virginia Water Authority evaluates its supplies
The Western Virginia Water Authority is reevaluating regional water supplies decades earlier than planned as officials consider growing demand from large industrial users, including Google’s planned data center in Botetourt County. Google’s agreement allocates up to 2 million gallons of water per day, although the first facility is expected to use air cooling and the authority says it has substantial unused capacity.
The Western Virginia Water Authority presented Roanoke City Council with plans to reassess the region’s water supplies, including the James, Roanoke and New rivers, Smith Mountain Lake, reservoirs and local quarries. The review is beginning well ahead of the schedule outlined in the authority’s 2010 plan, which anticipated Smith Mountain Lake as a future source for the Roanoke region.
Council members questioned whether planned data center development was accelerating the need for new supplies. The authority’s agreement with Google provides for 2 million gallons per day for a planned data center in Botetourt County, but Executive Director Mike McEvoy said the first facility is expected to be air-cooled and may not use that allocation. McEvoy said the region still has roughly 50 million gallons of available capacity compared with current usage in the low 20-million-gallon range, and the broader planning process is expected to continue over the next two decades.