A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure
Neighbors of a data center in Georgia are thrilled after discovering that the facility initially absorbed nearly 30 million gallons of water without paying for it.
Outrage began to mount last year when residents of an affluent subdivision called Annelise Park in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed their water pressure was unusually low.
When the county utility investigated, officials discovered two industrial-scale water connections feeding a data center campus 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta. One of the water connections was installed without the knowledge of the utility company, and the other was not connected to the company’s account and therefore was not billed.
In total, developer Quality Technology Services owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of unaccounted for water. This is equivalent to 44 Olympic swimming pools and far exceeds the peak limit agreed upon during the data center planning process.
Details revealed in a statement 15 May 2025 letter From the Fayette County water system to Quality Technology Services, where a retroactive charge of $147,474 was cited. The letter did not specify how many months the unpaid bill covers, but when asked Wednesday, Fayette County water system manager Vanessa Tigert said it was probably about four months. A QTS spokesman said the time frame was 9-15 months.
A QTS spokesperson said in an email that it paid all retroactive charges after the data center was notified, noting that unmetered water consumption occurred while the district was converting its system to smart meters.
The Fayette County water system confirmed that its data center meters are now fully integrated and monitored. Tigert, the water system manager, blamed the issue on a procedural mix-up.
“Fayette County is suburban, mostly residential, and we don’t have a lot of commercial meters in our system anyway,” he said. “And that’s why we didn’t realize our port wasn’t working.”
The incident became public last week when a county resident obtained the 2025 letter sent to QTS through a public records request and posted it on Facebook, sparking outrage from residents concerned about the data center’s water consumption.
Fayetteville campus one of the biggest Data center developments in the country cover 615 acres and up to 16 buildings are planned. Currently the campus is partially operational.
County officials say the campus will generate tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes, but the facility’s massive scale and appetite for water and electricity have helped increase local pressure for more data centers. Fayetteville City Council approved the ban last month New data centers in every zoning district in the city.
Georgia is hosting More than 200 data center facilities and their thirst for water becomes a political flashpoint. the whole state lives There was a moderate to severe drought, and Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency last month. One of Georgia’s worst wildfire outbreaks over the years.
One resident said his frustration with data centers grew further after local officials told community members to reduce their water use.
“We received this notice from the Fayette County water system saying you need to stop watering your lawn to help conserve water,” said attorney and property rights advocate James Clifton, who received and shared the 2025 letter to QTS.
“So the first thing they do when we have QTS completely draining us is to advocate for individuals and citizens to stop consuming water — most months it is the No. 1 consumer of water in the county,” said Clifton, who is also running for a seat on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.
QTS, a major data center developer with facilities across the country, disputes the accusation.
The company, owned by private equity firm Blackstone, touts its “closed-loop” cooling system, which it says does not consume water for cooling. Like a laptop or mobile phone, chips in data centers can easily overheat, and a lot of water is often required to cool them down.
The company said water consumption was very high last year due to temporary construction-related activities such as concrete works, dust control and site preparation.
The company said that once operational, data centers will use water only for domestic needs such as bathrooms and kitchens. This amount would be equivalent to what four US households use per month, the spokesman said.
But this may not happen for another few years. The company is still actively building and expanding Fayetteville data center campus. We aim to complete it within 3-5 years.
Tigert, who sent the 2025 letter to QTS, said the utility was unaware of the water connections because the connection process was “confused” as the district moved to a cloud-based system while trying to accommodate the industrial customer. Tigert also said his staff is small and at capacity.
“Like every water system, we don’t have enough staff. We can’t keep staff,” he said. “There’s one person doing inspections and plan review, so it’s pretty thinly distributed.”
He said his staff may have been aware of the connections but could not find the audit report. “I may have pressed ‘send’ too early,” he said of the 2025 letter to QTS.
While the utility charged the data center a higher construction fee for unapproved water consumption, Tigert confirmed that the utility did not penalize or penalize the data center.
This decision angered some citizens.
“It’s frustrating to come into our community and see citizens coming at us like we don’t matter, and when they break the rules, they’re above the law,” Clifton said.
Gregory Pierce, director of the UCLA Water Resources Group, said it was unusual for the utility not to penalize the data center for violating the rules.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but they probably don’t want to upset one of their new and biggest customers,” said Pierce, who studies data centers’ increasing control over local water systems.
Tigert defended the utility’s decision not to impose a fine.
“They are our biggest customer and we need to be partners,” he said. “That’s called customer service.”
Miranda Wilson contributed to this report.
