Virginia DEQ Groundwater Report Highlights Environmental Limits, Impacts Data Center Development
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's groundwater report reveals alarming depletion in eastern Virginia, driven mainly by two paper mills. While not its primary focus, the report's findings suggest that data centers using evaporative cooling are unlikely to find sufficient groundwater in the Virginia Coastal Plain. The article argues for Virginia to adopt a budget approach to its finite environmental resources, including water and energy, affecting future industrial development like data centers.
A recent report by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on groundwater availability in eastern Virginia, though completed months earlier, was released to the public and lawmakers only after the General Assembly's legislative session, sparking suspicion about its timing. The report's scientific findings are described as "alarming," particularly highlighting the disproportionate responsibility of two paper mills for groundwater depletion. International Paper's Franklin mill and Smurfit WestRock's West Point mill together account for 43% of reported groundwater withdrawals, sustaining as many people daily as the water utility for Chesapeake.
Historically, the Franklin mill's closure in 2010 led to groundwater level rebounds, which stabilized upon its 2012 reopening. However, due to population growth and increasing industrial water use, DEQ anticipates future declines. The report's implications for data centers are significant, stating that it's "unlikely that a data center with evaporative cooling technology (or any comparable water user) would find a reliable, sufficient groundwater supply anywhere in the Virginia Coastal Plain."
The commentary stresses that the core lesson from the DEQ report is the necessity of living within environmental limits, applicable to both water and energy use. It introduces the concept of a "water budget" and questions current allocations, such as the substantial water use by paper mills for products like diaper fluff and packaging. Furthermore, the article extends the budget idea to energy, noting that hyperscale data centers are massive electricity consumers, comparable to small cities. With over half of Virginia's electricity from fossil fuels, the state faces a "carbon budget" as well, implying that an unchecked increase in data centers could exceed environmental thresholds. The piece concludes by urging Virginia's state lawmakers and the public to use environmental science to make wise decisions about resource allocation and to accept that "we can't have everything."