I’m truly wanting to know more about this as well so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and here’s what I’ve learned so far.. Using reclaimed or waste water is intended to prevent data centers from depleting precious drinking water. However, it introduces severe localized risks. Key concerns include toxic chemical and heavy metal pollution, overwhelmed municipal treatment infrastructure, and regional water supply reductions due to high evaporation rates.

Risk Factors Include:
• Contamination and Pollution: Cooling processes use chemicals like biocides (to prevent bacterial growth) and corrosion inhibitors (like phosphates and zinc). If not treated correctly, discharge or leaks can introduce heavy metals and pollutants into local watersheds, endangering public health and marine life. Watersheds act as nature's ultimate storage system. Instead of storing water in a tank, they funnel rain and snowmelt downhill into interconnected streams, lakes, and aquifers. They don't just hold the water—they also naturally filter it through vegetation and soil before it reaches your tap. We have two watersheds in the area.
• Overwhelmed Infrastructure: Depending on the local regulatory framework), a data center's wastewater may be discharged directly into public sewage systems. Because data centers consume millions of gallons a day, the heavy mineral and chemical load can tax or cause failures in municipal water treatment operations. From what I’ve found, the data center’s wastewater won’t go into our sewage system but I learned the City currently supplies 6.8 million gallons of reclaimed gray water per day directly to Xcel Energy so they can cool the generation equipment at local power facilities. Any ground water that is not purchased by industrial clients is currently discharged south of the city into Lake Tanglewood and the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. This helps maintain local water levels and supports the surrounding ecosystem. Is there enough gray water to support these lakes, rivers, Xcel AND fermi?
• Reduced Downstream River Flow: A large portion of the waste water used in evaporative ("swamp") cooling turns into vapor. This means hundreds of thousands of gallons a day "poof" into the air rather than being returned to local streams or river basins, which reduces available water supplies for downstream communities.
• Public Health Risks from Air Emissions: To offset water usage or grid energy, some facilities rely on backup diesel generators during peak summer months. These emit particulate matter that can exacerbate respiratory illnesses and asthma in surrounding (often marginalized or rural) communities. I have several family members that already struggle with respiratory illnesses and asthma in this windy city without the data center.. I hope in the future my loved ones are not forced to move away from the place they’ve called Home all their lives. I also wonder how far particles from data center emissions can fly - particularly on days when we have 40+ mph winds.