Data Centers and Water Treatment Plants

One of the unexpected backbones of data center operation is water: Data centers heavily rely on water resources for cooling, efficiency, humidity control, and threat protection. Water is a key component to ensuring that data centers function the way they need to, by significantly reducing heat and controlling temperatures better than air conditioning. Considering that data center equipment is ‘heavy duty’ - large servers can heat easily on their assigned racks, making it difficult for these facilities to process and store data without a reliable cooling mechanism. Racks in these centers have to stabilize at temperatures of around 64-81°F and keeping them at these temperatures is almost non-negotiable to ensure server reliability. 

LandGate has mapped over 14,800 Water Treatment plants that can aid data center developers in their search for the perfect parcel of land, while additionally providing a better understanding of the data center market. 

LandGate’s Water treatment plant coverage

Comparing Data Center Cooling Systems

Water serves as a more cost-efficient method for cooling in comparison to air-conditioning that would have to pull even more power than the grid. Fans, conditioners and electrical compressors can’t match the heat-moving capacity or rising-temperature response time that water and pumped liquid provides. In addition, companies can also uphold their ESG requirements through this mechanism and relieve the electric grid of additional loads. Here’s where water treatment plans come in as an essential resource for data center facilities. 

How Water Treatment Plants Work for Data Centers 

Water treatment plants serve as facilities that process and clean water to reach Class A reclaimed-water quality. While data center operations require very low ‘hardness’ or silica levels in their water, these facilities can meet all cooling requirements adequately. Some data centers also have reactors on-site to plumb secondary water that is catered to site needs. 

One example of where water treatments can support data centers is Loudon County. Their water’s purple-pipe network has sent over 740 million gallons of water to multiple server locations in the last year, which is water that would otherwise be taken from the city’s drinking water supply. Other companies are also following suit, with Amazon web services planning to replicate similar mechanisms to approach over 120 locations around the United States by 2030, sparing over 530 million gallons of water from local and regional communities. Similarly, Meta’s Arizona site in Mesa also uses untreated municipal wastewater that is sent to an on-site treatment plant to recycle more than half of the water for its facility’s cooling mechanisms. 

For utilities, these facilities stabilize flow and finance plant enhancements. For operators, reclaimed water reduces operating costs, offers protection from drought limitations, and aids in achieving favorable Water-Usage Effectiveness targets. Well engineered treatment and reuse systems have become a strategic facilitator of hyperscale expansion, providing data centers with a more economical and dependable cooling source, while also granting them the acceptance necessary for continued growth in water-scarce areas.

LandGate’s extensive coverage and inclusion of water treatment plants in its site selection tool can enable data center developers to plan out their water supply as well as meet all required sustainability and ESG requirements. 

To learn more about LandGate’s water treatment plants data layers and our site selection tools, book a demo with our dedicated energy team.