Data Centers are Guzzling California’s Water. We Have no Idea how Much.
A new report from Next10, Ethics Center's Director of Internet Ethics, Irina Raicu and a team led by Iris Stewart-Frey, Santa Clara University professor of environmental science and the main author of the study, examines reports that disclose a project’s impacts for both nature and people under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act.
The report finds that planned data centers are tapping into strained resources and with potentially major effect in California's Central and Imperial Valleys.
“We have this huge build out, and we have very little data,” said Irina Raicu.
Paired with California’s precarious water supplies, Raicu said, “it’s just not a good combination.”
“They need a bunch of cheap land,” Raicu. “If we’re not careful, they will end up being pitched, very convincingly, to communities that have real needs — without enough attention being paid to the water part.”
Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by CalMatters.