Posted on 05/11/2026 3:41:48 AM PDT by DFG
Georgia residents were left outraged when they discovered a massive data center had been guzzling up nearly 30 million gallons of water without paying for it.
The issue began last year when residents in the affluent subdivision of Annelise Park in Fayetteville noticed their water pressure was unusually low, Politico reports.
When the county utility then investigated the problem, officials discovered that developer Quality Technology Services (QTS) had installed two industrial-scale water hookups to the approximately 6.2 million square foot data center campus - located about 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta.
One of the water connections appeared to have been installed without anyone at the water utility knowing, while the other was not linked to the company's account - and it therefore was not being billed.
By May 15, 2025, the Fayette County Water System sent a letter to QTS, saying it owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of water - the equivalent of 44 Olympic-size swimming pools, far exceeding the limit agreed to during the planning process.
QTS, which is owned by private equity firm Blackstone, eventually paid off the $147,474 debt and was not charged any extra fines.
But the company's massive water usage only came to light last week when resident James Clifton obtained the 2025 letter to QTS from a public records request, and posted it to Facebook.
Meanwhile, the entire state of Georgia is experiencing moderate to high levels of drought. Governor Brian Kemp has even declared a state of emergency in response to one of the state's worst wildfire outbreaks in years.
When residents were then told to scale back their own water usage, their frustrations with the data center reached a boiling point.
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And corporations wonder why they are hated. No way they were not aware of this.
It’s a little more complicated.
Apparently 30 million gallons was used to charge the closed-loop system, and that water may have been gotten gratis.
Was that part of the deal to site there?
If so, was the public informed?
Inquiring minds want to know.
And so goes our vote.... stole
And should not have their leadership locked up for it.
While it is easy to blame the “evil” corporation, it doesn’t sound like the local officials were doing anything. While plenty of areas welcome data centers, one would have an inspector or someone there every day.
I blame government.
Kemp benefits from this data center so he’ll do little about it. Strongly worded etc. He’s a punk and a grifter.
Of course, it had to be Blackstone
A friend recently complained that his water bill had tripled. I asked what had happened and he’d filled his pool. I told him all he had to do was call the water company and tell them he’d filled the pool, and they’d adjust his bill to its historic average plus a discounted rate for the overage. He had no idea.
As far as I know water companies have always had special rates for one time usage. After we’d had a pipe failure that went on unnoticed for some time, my dad called the water company, and they adjusted the overage to zero. There is and always has been a lot of latitude in service pricing...such as when someone had illegally hooked up to your electric power as happened to a friend when squatters moved into the abandoned house next door. It was actually the power company that spotted it, disconnected it and then warned him.
So, as in most of the “news” articles, there’s always more to the story that’s left out. Because if it is included there isn’t a clickable story anymore.
Throw them in the slammer too, but a corporation shouldn’t get off for such massive law-breaking and theft.
The first thing that comes to mind: which politicians had their bank accounts get flush?
In defense of leftist oligarchs they want to rule over the prols. In contrast the tech oligarchs want to eliminate the prols altogether and replace them with Ai and machines.
without paying for it.
/
Nothing is free
The public is picking up the tag I assure you.
Tab
...and a traitor. He helped steal 2020 with Rafensberger. Two very corrupt individuals.
That’s provided you can get anyone from the water company on the phone..........
This is effectively suburban SW Atlanta. Its unkind yet accurate to point out the Mayor of Fayetteville, Ed Johnson is member of a demographic associated with urban government correuption.
When Walmart was building their new campus recently they dug a lake on the area to be used as a water reservior with a filtration system so that they wouldn’t have to tap into city water supply. Never heard how that worked out, but at least the concept was a better way of thinking. Also heard these data centers can build their own recycling systems for waste water and dramatically reduce the total water they use.
“That’s provided you can get anyone from the water company on the phone..........”
I own several rental properties, so I make this call more frequently than the average homeowner. I’ve never even had to wait on hold. Now, the court system...
Data centers use evaporative cooling systems, and are not closed loop.
This particular data center consumes an additional 1.5 to 3.0 million gallons of water a day depending on the outside air temperature.
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