Water in Florida is precious, but AI data centers will guzzle big amounts

• Large data centers require significant amounts of water for cooling, which can strain local resources.
• Several proposals for large-scale data centers in Florida are facing public and governmental opposition.
• A single large data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of water daily, competing with residential and agricultural needs.
• If water is unavailable, data centers may use more electricity for cooling, adding to their environmental impact.

The price to cool one of the trendy data centers that are popping up all over the country isn't cheap and the larger they are, the costlier it will be for taxpayers, particularly in warm-weather Florida.

Every 100-word prompt to an artificial intelligence site consumes the equivalent of a bottle of water as the data centers use it for cooling. Some studies project the amount of water needed nationally in the future is equivalent to the daily use by people in New York City.

Data centers are centralized facilities that house computer systems, servers and numerous digital services in massive storage facilities. In Florida, there are already more than 100 data centers but they are mostly on the smaller scale. Proposals are on the table for what are known as hyperscale data centers, and some of those have encountered significant public opposition.

• One is planned for Fort Meade, a town in Polk County best known as a hub for phosphate fertilizer production. That project would cover more than 1,300 acres of land and involve eight buildings.
• In Palm Beach County, a 202-acre campus called Project Tango is moving through zoning review near the Arden community, but has received significant pushback from the community.
• In St. Lucie County, a $13.5 billion proposal for 15 million square feet of data center space was put on an indefinite hiatus in December after vocal backlash. In January, a St. Lucie County Commissioner said she believes the project has been cancelled permanently, but developers have declined to comment. 

Big data centers mean big water usage

According to several studies, a big data center like that can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, which would compete with other municipal uses like homes, businesses and agriculture.

Many aging public water systems don’t have the capacity to handle this demand, according to a study by researchers at the University of California-Riverside and the California Institute of Technology.

“Many public water systems in the United States are aging, fragmented and/or financially constrained, thus lacking sufficient available capacity to meet the additional peak water demands of large data centers,” the study says.

There is opposition locally to big data centers in Florida

The proposed hyperscale data center in Fort Meade is getting some serious pushback.

The Fort Meade city commission approved the plan earlier this month. But the Southwest Florida Water Management District took issue with that, saying the proposal did not yet have the necessary permits for the water. The city amended its plan to get that permit.

Then the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis chimed in, with Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly telling Fort Meade it must have several other permits and that the overall project is “fundamentally flawed.”

DeSantis has proposed an AI “Bill of Rights” in Florida that would enact a variety of rules, including privacy protections, the ability of parents to control what their children see and enabling local governments to regulate or prevent large-scale data centers from being built in their communities. The state House, however, has decided not to take that measure up during this week's special legislative session.

Meanwhile, large data centers are proposed in Florida at Fort Meade, St. Lucie County, Martin County and Palm Beach County. Studies show each of these could consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, which is the amount a town of 10,000 or more people would use daily.

Most of Florida is already in an excessive drought, with water restrictions imposed across the state. The main underground water supply, the Floridan Aquifer, is in ongoing stress because of demands from development of homes and businesses. The state’s natural springs are suffering from that.

Electric consumption is another concern for data centers

If these large data centers don’t have enough water, they will have to cool their servers another way. That would increase their use of electricity, which is another issue for people to consider.

“The limited availability of public water systems is emerging as a critical, yet frequently underestimated bottleneck to the rapid “growth of data centers,” the University of California study says.

Curt Anderson is the Policy and Politics Reporter for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY athttps://tallahassee.com/newsletters.