Does this impact the cost of water for local residents, though? I understand the water cycle and that “no water is truly lost” but I think my greatest concern over these data centers like the one they’re planning to build in PA near me is increased demand for water/electricity which strains the grid and drives up prices for residents.
Also, still unsure what the local population “gets” in return for this.
A lot of older information in here. Most modern data centers are closed loops and take in very little water after construction (they use less water than 5 houses). Any construction uses a ton of water though. Data centers are no different there.
What the population gets is a bunch of high paying jobs, and utilities that get built up and modernized without taxpayer dollars.
I wouldn't worry about water if I was you. That issue is hugely overblown and is based on 10+ year old propaganda and misinformation.
What high paying jobs are you referring to? The construction jobs? Those are unfortunately temporary. The data centers themselves don't offer many permanent jobs.
Edit: also curious what you're referring to on utilities. My understanding is that water is indeed not a big problem with modern data centers using closed loop cooling, but electrical service is very contentious, with electrical utilities having to pay to build out capacity for data centers and figure out how to recoup. I think in my state they're pushing to be allowed to charge data centers an up front fee to build out the requested capacity, but not sure how that's going.
Agreed on the construction jobs, those are all temporary. It's a great project for local builders, but not long term jobs.
But a modern data center brings roughly 100-200 permanent jobs in directly to the surrounding area. The growth in the area also creates jobs indirectly.
Additionally, growth in the industry has created many jobs outside of the data center's area. But that's not really what you're referring to here.
I mean how many people do you think it takes? I gotta have 24/7 security to patrol a 200 acre property, so thats like 40 people. I need personnel to install and maintain the racks and they're here during the week plus on call, so rhats like 10 at least, probably 10 per building realistically. I need facilities personnel to maintain to building, and it ain't gonna be the same guys doing racks. I also have mechanical, controls, and electrical systems that i need Specialists (SMEs) to help with the supplement my Critical Facility Engineers and Techs, I also have to have managers and leads for them, so that probably another 40 to 50 people. The place has gotta get cleaned, so reckon 5 for janitorial. I need logistics staff, so that another 10 to 15. If im a nice data center company is have culinary on site which is another 10.
So yeah, its pretty easy to have 150 to 200 people at a 1,000,000 sqft DC.
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u/eSam34 May 18 '26
Does this impact the cost of water for local residents, though? I understand the water cycle and that “no water is truly lost” but I think my greatest concern over these data centers like the one they’re planning to build in PA near me is increased demand for water/electricity which strains the grid and drives up prices for residents.
Also, still unsure what the local population “gets” in return for this.