Archived: A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure

This is a simplified archive of the page at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988

Use this page embed on your own site:

<script>window.contexterSetup=window.contexterSetup||function(){window.contexterSetupComplete=!0;class ContexterLink extends HTMLAnchorElement{constructor(){super()}connectedCallback(){this.setAttribute("target","_blank")}}customElements.define("contexter-link",ContexterLink,{extends:"a"}),customElements.define("contexter-inner",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__inner"}}),customElements.define("contexter-thumbnail",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__thumbnail"}}),customElements.define("contexter-byline",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__byline"}}),customElements.define("contexter-keywordset",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__keywordset"}}),customElements.define("contexter-linkset",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__linkset"}}),customElements.define("contexter-meta",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__meta"}}),customElements.define("contexter-summary",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}attributeChangedCallback(name,oldValue,newValue){}connectedCallback(){this.className="p-summary entry-summary"}}),customElements.define("contexter-box-head",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}connectedCallback(){this.className="contexter-box__head"}}),customElements.define("contexter-box-inner",class extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super()}connectedCallback(){}});class ContexterBox extends HTMLElement{constructor(){super(),this.first=!0,this.shadow=this.attachShadow({mode:"open"})}connectedCallback(){if(this.first){this.first=!1;var style=document.createElement("style"),lightDomStyle=(style.innerHTML=`:host {--background: #f5f6f7;--border: darkblue;--blue: #0000ee;--font-color: black;--inner-border: black;font-family: Franklin,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: 14px;background: var(--background);width: 600px;color: var(--font-color);min-height: 90px;display: block;padding: 8px;border: 1px solid var(--border);cursor: pointer;box-sizing: border-box;margin: 6px;contain: content;margin: 6px auto;}// can only select top-level nodes with slotted::slotted(*) {max-width: 100%;display:block;}::slotted([slot=thumbnail]) {max-width: 100%;display:block;}::slotted([slot=header]) {width: 100%;font-size: 1.25rem;font-weight: bold;display:block;margin-bottom: 6px;}::slotted([slot=author]) {max-width: 50%;font-size: 12px;display:inline-block;float: left;}::slotted([slot=time]) {max-width: 50%;font-size: 12px;display:inline-block;float: right;}::slotted([slot=summary]) {width: 100%;margin-top: 6px;padding: 10px 2px;border-top: 1px solid var(--inner-border);font-size: 15px;display:inline-block;margin-bottom: 6px;}contexter-meta {height: auto;margin-bottom: 4px;width: 100%;display: grid;position: relative;min-height: 16px;grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);}::slotted([slot=keywords]) {width: 80%;padding: 2px 4px;border-top: 1px solid var(--inner-border);font-size: 11px;display: block;float: right;font-style: italic;text-align: right;grid-column: 2/2;grid-row: 1;align-self: end;justify-self: end;}::slotted([slot=keywords]):empty {border-top: 0px solid var(--inner-border);}::slotted([slot=archive-link]) {font-size: 1em;display: inline;}::slotted([slot=archive-link])::after {content: "|";display: inline;color: var(--font-color);text-decoration: none;margin: 0 .5em;}::slotted([slot=read-link]) {font-size: 1em;display: inline;}contexter-linkset {width: 80%;padding: 2px 4px;font-size: 13px;float: left;font-weight: bold;grid-row: 1;grid-column: 1/2;align-self: end;justify-self: start;}/* Extra small devices (phones, 600px and down) */@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {:host {width: 310px;}}/* Small devices (portrait tablets and large phones, 600px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 600px) {...}/* Medium devices (landscape tablets, 768px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) {...}/* Large devices (laptops/desktops, 992px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 992px) {...}/* Extra large devices (large laptops and desktops, 1200px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) {...}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:host {--background: #354150;--border: #1f2b37;--blue: #55b0ff;--font-color: #ffffff;--inner-border: #787a7c;background: var(--background);border: 1px solid var(--border)}}`,document.createElement("style"));lightDomStyle.innerHTML=`contexter-box {contain: content;}contexter-box .read-link {font-weight: bold;}contexter-box a {color: #0000ee;}contexter-box img {width: 100%;border: 0;padding: 0;margin: 0;}/* Extra small devices (phones, 600px and down) */@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {...}/* Small devices (portrait tablets and large phones, 600px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 600px) {...}/* Medium devices (landscape tablets, 768px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) {...}/* Large devices (laptops/desktops, 992px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 992px) {...}/* Extra large devices (large laptops and desktops, 1200px and up) */@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) {...}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){contexter-box a {color: #55b0ff;}}`,this.appendChild(lightDomStyle),this.shadow.appendChild(style);const innerContainer=document.createElement("contexter-box-inner"),innerSlotThumbnail=(this.shadow.appendChild(innerContainer),document.createElement("slot")),innerSlotHeader=(innerSlotThumbnail.name="thumbnail",innerContainer.appendChild(innerSlotThumbnail),document.createElement("slot")),innerSlotAuthor=(innerSlotHeader.name="header",innerContainer.appendChild(innerSlotHeader),document.createElement("slot")),innerSlotTime=(innerSlotAuthor.name="author",innerContainer.appendChild(innerSlotAuthor),document.createElement("slot")),innerSlotSummary=(innerSlotTime.name="time",innerContainer.appendChild(innerSlotTime),document.createElement("slot")),metaContainer=(innerSlotSummary.name="summary",innerContainer.appendChild(innerSlotSummary),document.createElement("contexter-meta")),innerSlotInfo=(innerContainer.appendChild(metaContainer),document.createElement("slot")),linkContainer=(innerSlotInfo.name="keywords",metaContainer.appendChild(innerSlotInfo),document.createElement("contexter-linkset")),innerSlotArchiveLink=(metaContainer.appendChild(linkContainer),document.createElement("slot")),innerSlotReadLink=(innerSlotArchiveLink.name="archive-link",linkContainer.appendChild(innerSlotArchiveLink),document.createElement("slot"));innerSlotReadLink.name="read-link",linkContainer.appendChild(innerSlotReadLink),this.className="contexter-box",this.onclick=e=>{if(!e.target.className.includes("read-link")&&!e.target.className.includes("title-link")){const mainLinks=this.querySelectorAll("a.main-link");mainLinks[0].click()}}}}}customElements.define("contexter-box",ContexterBox)},window.contexterSetupComplete||window.contexterSetup();</script><contexter-box class="link-card h-entry hentry" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/CreativeWork"><contexter-thumbnail class="thumbnail" slot="thumbnail"></contexter-thumbnail><contexter-box-head slot="header" class="p-name entry-title" itemprop="headline"><contexter-box-head slot="header" class="p-name entry-title" itemprop="headline"><a is="contexter-link" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988" itemprop="url">A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure</a></contexter-box-head></contexter-box-head><contexter-byline class="p-author author" slot="author"><span class="p-name byline" rel="author" itemprop="author">@politico</span></contexter-byline><time class="dt-published published" slot="time" itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2026-09-15T14:21:45.375Z">9/15/2026</time><contexter-summary class="p-summary entry-summary" itemprop="abstract" slot="summary"><p>Residents in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed low water pressure last year. The utility discovered two unaccounted-for water connections at one of the nation’s largest data center campuses.</p></contexter-summary><contexter-keywordset itemprop="keywords" slot="keywords"></contexter-keywordset><a is="contexter-link" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988" class="read-link main-link" itemprop="sameAs" slot="read-link">Read</a><a href="https://context.center/timegate/https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988" is="contexter-link" target="_blank" class="read-link archive-link" itemprop="archivedAt" slot="archive-link">Archived</a></contexter-box>

A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure

@politico

9/15/2026

Residents in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed low water pressure last year. The utility discovered two unaccounted-for water connections at one of the nation’s largest data center campuses.

The neighbors of a data center in Georgia are steaming after they discovered the facility had sucked up nearly 30 million gallons of water — without initially paying for it.

Outrage started bubbling up last year when residents of an affluent subdivision named Annelise Park in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed their water pressure was unusually low.

When the county utility investigated, officials discovered two industrial-scale water hookups feeding a data center campus located 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta. One water connection had been installed without the utility’s knowledge, and the other was not linked to the company’s account and therefore wasn’t being billed.