If the world is beating a path to Utah’s door to build the next generation of ginormous data centers because the tech giants think we have lots of cheap water and power, they — and Utah — may be in for a rude awakening.
Water in Utah is generally underpriced. What we pay for it, often artificially subsidized by property tax support, is too little to encourage the levels of conservation that a desert state like ours should expect.
That is particularly true of larger water hogs, not only data centers but also bottling plants, power stations and such. They should at least be facing a system that sharply increases the per-gallon cost of water as usage levels climb.
It is discouraging that Gov. Spencer Cox — the leading cheerleader for the development of artificial intelligence data centers and nuclear power plants to juice them — is trying to assuage our concerns by saying that “Most of the data centers do not consume water.”
That so?
We need to find out. And soon.
Given the proper galaxy of incentives, the tech bros behind the next generation of data centers might well develop systems that make much more efficient use of water. And of electricity — the generation of which also uses water.
If, that is, Utah puts on the necessary pressure to make it worth their while to do so.
The first step is better information. Just how much water are these plants using? Are they building their campuses with state-of-the-art conservation systems, recycling water, disposing of it properly, watching every drop?
Or are they not to be bothered with any of that fuss and expense because, as Wes Swenson, boss of the Novva data center campus in West Jordan, told The Salt Lake Tribune recently, “Water is extremely cheap.”
At least some of the information we need to find out if these shiny new prizes are worth the cost would be gained if the Legislature would pass House Bill 76, introduced by Ogden Republican Rep. Jill Koford.
The bill would require data centers of a certain size to report to local and state officials how much water they use in a year, and how much water they expect to use in the future.
The proposed approach, which would hide individual users’ water demand in an overall statewide total, may not be enough transparency to answer our questions. But it’s a good start.
The state also needs to get on top of data about how much power these operations will use, and where it will come from. Will they be building their own power generation — green, nuclear or otherwise? Or relying on the existing grid in such a way that may boost energy costs for the rest of us?
Utah’s leadership seems far too eager to impress AI creators so they will build here, and far too slow to make those developers impress us with their abilities to make the most judicious use of our water and power.
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