<body><div>AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - About 2.2 billion gallons of water flow past the banks of the Savannah River in Richmond County on average every day. From Augusta to Savannah, 1.4 million people rely on this river for their drinking water.Augusta Utilities is one of the parties at the table with QTS, the developer behind the $2 billion, six-building data center campus near Fort Gordon.“Daily, they’re anticipating using 18,000 gallons a day,” Augusta Utilities Director Wes Byne said.That’s a drop in the bucket, even compared to the 60 million gallons of water Augusta Utilities pulls from the river every day.“You’re still talking about consumption use that’s less than the evaporation at the lake - evaporation at Clarks Hill exceeds our water use,” Byne said.Two patients were transported to Emory University Hospital’s serious communicable diseases unit and are showing signs of hantavirus. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3ezuD6_1BIDoPE300" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3ezuD6_1BIDoPE300" width="1600" height="899" ></figure><h2>Water consumption and cooling systems</h2>According to QTS, its “data centers are built with a closed loop cooling system that does not consume water for cooling once operational.”But the company adds, “since we’re still early in the planning stage for this development, it’s hard to predict the exact amount of water needed.”EARLIER COVERAGE FROM NEWS 12:One thing I hear from constituents … ‘Well, what if they build all these large data centers in a neighboring county, Aiken or whatever?’ Even at their peak demands, it shouldn’t have a material impact on us,” Byne said.What impacts drinking water is the 35 million gallons the city returns to the river every day.“It’s treated wastewater, very high quality, often in most cases cleaner than what comes from out of the river originally, but we fall under the regulations for wastewater,” Byne said.<h2>Wastewater recycling proposal</h2>Under the Clean Water Act, Augusta is only permitted to discharge a certain amount of treated water containing a certain amount of chemicals back into the river. According to Byne, Augusta is nearing its capacity. But he sees opportunity by letting QTS use the treated water for its cooling system.That would get around the problem some residents have with allowing the data center to use drinking water for cooling. After sending the wastewater to the data center, it would be disposed of through evaporation into the atmosphere.Democratic U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock says he's "deeply troubled by the proposed cuts in services at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center." <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2HNBXi_1BIDoPE300" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2HNBXi_1BIDoPE300" width="1600" height="900" ></figure>“It would have little impact to us,” Byne said.“We would lower our discharge to the water and be beneficial our permit,” Byne said.Reclaiming water for data center use is not a new concept. According to Data Center Knowledge, a Google data center near Atlanta is recycling wastewater to cool the thousands of services housed in the facility and then purifying the excess water so it can be released into the Chattahoochee River. The project is part of Google’s broader program to reduce impact of its data centers on the environment and local community.“It’s a great opportunity if someone says, ‘I need a lot of water.’ That’s not going to impact your potable water usage or your drinking water, and in fact, it will be beneficial to your permit capacity for the city of Augusta,” Byne said.Richmond County leaders have said a community meeting on this project is now expected in June after the primaries, but a date has not been set yet.</div></body>

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - About 2.2 billion gallons of water flow past the banks of the Savannah River in Richmond County on average every day. From Augusta to Savannah, 1.4 million people rely on this river for their drinking water. Augusta Utilities is one of the parties at the table...

Augusta data center could use wastewater for cooling

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - About 2.2 billion gallons of water flow past the banks of the Savannah River in Richmond County on average every day. From Augus

Augusta data center could use wastewater for cooling

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