Water is under threat in Oregon due to pollution levels, and massive data centers are in the crosshairs
A local commissioner uncovered extreme nitrate levels in Morrow County wells as the data center boom drives up consumption and pollution of the aquifer.
RE: https://mastodon.green/@gerrymcgovern/115616138817977972
“Servers need to be kept between 21 and 27 degrees Celsius to function properly, and in Morrow County they are cooled with water drawn from the same aquifer used by local residents. That water is already loaded with nitrates; as it passes through the cooling systems, some of the liquid evaporates, but the compounds remain and become concentrated. The return water is then mixed with industrial wastewater in the giant lagoons at the Port of Morrow and sprayed onto fields as liquid fertilizer, even in winter when there are no crops to absorbit. The result, acording to hydrologists quoted by Rolling Stone, is an accelerated "washing" of nitrates into the subsoil: the more it is irrigated, the faster the aquifer is poisoned.”