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  "description": "Drought and water restrictions have already hit 'data center alley,' but closed loop systems used by 2/3 of Ashburn data centers promise relief.",
  "path": "/dateline-ashburn-the-thirst-for-ai-raises-alarms-in-virginia/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-09-12T20:04:22.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "___Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit in Washington on Sept. 18___",
    "Resilient Critical InfrastructureA one-day conference on securing vulnerable critical infrastructureBroadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast",
    "_months-long drought_",
    "_mandatory water use restrictions_",
    "_security_",
    "_bandwidth_",
    "_electric grid_",
    "_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_",
    "Join the Community!",
    "_Environmental and Energy Study Institute_",
    "_primarily used_",
    "_199 data centers_",
    "_so appealing_",
    "_told _Grist__",
    "_2021 survey_",
    "_told Water Environment & Technology_",
    "_roughly two-thirds_",
    "_reported_",
    "_more than half_",
    "_warned_",
    "_found_",
    "_dozens of bills_",
    "_HB 2101_",
    "_HB 2027_",
    "_HB 2578_",
    "_HB 2035_",
    "_HB 1601_",
    "_in a statement_",
    "**_How to Break the Internet_**",
    "**_How do IXPs contribute to infrastructure resiliency?_**",
    "**_What is the energy impact of data centers?_**",
    "**_What is the water impact of data centers?_**",
    "Learn About for Resilient Critical Infrastructure"
  ],
  "textContent": "💡\n\n __Editor’s note: This is the__ _****fourth****_ __article in a series by Broadband Breakfast about the security, energy and internet infrastructure issues associated with data centers in Ashburn. Interested in more? Attend the__ ___Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit in Washington on Sept. 18___ __.__\n\nASHBURN, Va., Sept. 12, 2025 – Already strained by drought and restrictions, Virginia’s “data center alley” watches as the rise of artificial intelligence accelerates demand for fresh, potable water.\n\nResilient Critical InfrastructureA one-day conference on securing vulnerable critical infrastructureBroadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast\n\nDespite the seemingly abundant water supply in Ashburn, Virginia – home to the world’s largest cluster of data centers – the region has already begun to experience the reality of climate change and water scarcity. In 2024, Loudoun County faced a _months-long drought_ that triggered _mandatory water use restrictions_ across the area.\n\nAs digital infrastructure carrying global internet traffic and AI workloads expands in the region, feeding it was straining not only the region’s _security_, _bandwidth_, and _electric grid_, but also its most basic resource: Water.\n\n\n\n_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_\n\n Join the Community! \n\nData center water consumption in 2023 hit about 900 million gallons for Loudoun County alone, and nearly 2 billion gallons across Northern Virginia. That was a 63 percent increase from 2019 levels.\n\nIn 2025, large data centers were consuming up to 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people, according to the _Environmental and Energy Study Institute_.\n\nWater is _primarily used_ as a liquid coolant, circulated through pipes and heat exchangers to dissipate the heat generated by the servers and other data center equipment. Most data centers utilize potable water from local water utilities as their main source for cooling due to its refined quality, reducing the risk of corrosion, scaling, and microbiological growth in the equipment.\n\nOf the Earth’s water, only about 0.5 percent is both accessible and safe for human use – a supply that data centers are now competing to tap.\n\n### _Water works in the data center capital of the world_\n\nAshburn, Virginia, located in the heart of “data center alley,” is home to at least _199 data centers_, with more on the way. One of the factors that made the location _so appealing_was its close proximity to the Potomac River, providing a steady flow of water for cooling systems that can easily be accessed through municipal water suppliers.\n\n“Some of these data centers will use resources equivalent to a small city for energy and water,” **Ann Bennett** , chair of data center issues in the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter, _told _Grist__. “They are being built on a scale that we just haven’t seen in the past.”\n\nHowever, pinpointing the exact amount of water, and what type, currently being used has proven difficult due to a lack of publicly available data. According to a _2021 survey_, only 10 percent of data center operators monitor and record water usage across their facilities.\n\nMany data centers in Ashburn obtain their water from Loudoun Water, the county’s local water authority. While Loudoun Water has worked to utilize reclaimed water to cool these data centers, the rapid surge in demand for water has led to continued use of freshwater resources in some facilities.\n\n### _Some relief from reclaimed water_\n\nLoudoun Water constructed its first pipelines for a reclaimed water distribution system in 2010 for industrial cooling in Ashburn’s emerging data centers. The reclaimed water distribution system now contains 20 miles of pipeline, delivering 736 million gallons of reclaimed water to data center customers in 2024.\n\nThis effort is “helping to save an equal amount of precious potable drinking water while reducing nutrients discharged to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay,” according to Loudoun Water’s website.\n\n**Mike Beardslee** , executive director of technology services for Loudoun Water, claimed that both parties are benefiting from this system.\n\n“The data centers get the cooling water they need at a reduced rate, and we’re getting paid for reclaimed water that would otherwise be discharged into a stream,” Beardslee _told Water Environment & Technology_..\n\n### _Open vs. closed loop systems_\n\nIn addition to the type of water being used, different systems employed for cooling have different environmental impacts. Closed loop systems, utilized by _roughly two-thirds_ of the data centers in Ashburn, are much more environmentally friendly than their open loop counterparts.\n\nIn open loop systems, the water used for cooling is pumped into a cooling tank, where it comes into direct contact with the outside air to lower its temperature naturally. This method is appealing in areas with a strained power grid as it requires minimal energy use, but is extremely water intensive as much of the water used for cooling evaporates.\n\nConversely, closed loop systems enable the reuse of both recycled water and freshwater, reducing the need for constant replenishment. Cooling is achieved in a tower through external air being brought in, allowing the water to return to its original temperature, or by a refrigerant.\n\nThe World Economic Forum _reported_ that the transition from an open to closed loop system can reduce freshwater use by up to 70 percent.\n\n### _Facing the reality of water demand in Loudoun_\n\nDespite the fact that some of Ashburn’s data centers are utilizing recycled water, and _more than half_ of them employ a closed loop system, community and environmental groups have raised a number of real concerns.\n\nThe Piedmont Environmental Council _warned_ that as more data centers are built, impervious cover – or hard surfaces that prevent the infiltration of water into the ground – increases, reducing the land’s natural ability to absorb rainfall, resulting in more stormwater runoff.\n\nNot only does this increase the likelihood and severity of floods, but it draws more pollutants into drinking water, harms aquatic ecosystems, and erodes stream banks.\n\n**Alimatou Seck** , a scientist at the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, worked with water suppliers in Loudoun County to demonstrate the increasing strain that data centers are putting on local water resources.\n\nSeck _found_ that “data center alley” currently consumes about 2 percent of the water used from the Potomac River Basin, a figure that increases to 8 percent in the summer when hotter temperatures require more water for cooling.\n\nShe predicts that data center growth at its current pace using standard cooling technologies could drive this figure upwards of 33 percent by 2050, requiring 200 million gallons of Potomac water per day.\n\n“As we look towards climate change and drought, somebody has to start asking these questions about how that impacts water supply and future increasing need,” **Kyle Hart** , program manager of the National Parks Conservation Association in Alexandria, _told _Grist__.\n\n### _Legislative efforts stalled in Richmond_\n\nIn both 2024 and 2025, _dozens of bills_ targeting oversight of data-center environmental or water use impacts were proposed in Virginia. But in each year, nearly all failed – either in committee, during crossover, or via veto.\n\nFor example, in 2025, at least four major bills advancing protections around water, land use, or power infrastructure – _HB 2101_, _HB 2027_, _HB 2578_, _HB 2035_ – did not pass. Only one key oversight measure, _HB 1601_, made it through the legislature, and it was ultimately vetoed.\n\nThe measure, introduced by Delegate**Josh Thomas** , D-Prince William, would have required data center developers to conduct impact assessments on ground and surface water resources, as well as agricultural resources, parks, registered historic sites, and forestland.\n\nThe legislation cleared both chambers of the General Assembly but was vetoed by Governor **Glenn Youngkin** (R) who in May dismissed the measure as an unnecessary burden.\n\n“This bill limits local discretion and creates unnecessary red tape,” Youngkin said _in a statement_, noting that data centers support about 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in labor income, and $9.1 billion to GDP annually.\n\nThat lack of progress, some observers argue, stems from a deeper problem.\n\n“I think it’s very fair to paint a picture of a very obstinate industry that is opposed to any type of check on its growth,” Thomas told _Grist_. “If we don’t do something quickly, there may be a tipping point where anything we do might not have an impact.”\n\nAccording to **Julie Bolthouse** , director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, this can be attributed both to a lack of data on how much water data centers are actually consuming, coupled with the fact that the county boards of supervisors who approve data centers stand to see significant tax revenue increases from doing so.\n\n“We just don’t know. And that’s the biggest problem: We need more transparency around this industry,” Bolthouse told Grist. “And yet we’re approving them because of the promise of increased revenue.”\n\n** _First Dateline Ashburn story:_****_How to Break the Internet_**\n\n** _Second Dateline Ashburn story:_****_How do IXPs contribute to infrastructure resiliency?_**\n\n**_Third Dateline Ashburn story:_****_What is the energy impact of data centers?_**\n\n**_Fourth Dateline Ashburn story:_****_What is the water impact of data centers?_**\n\n## Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit\n\nA one-day conference on securing America's vulnerable digital infrastructure\n\nLearn About for Resilient Critical Infrastructure\n\n.\n\n.",
  "title": "Dateline Ashburn: The Thirst for AI Raises Alarms in Virginia",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:46:25.004Z"
}