A server room in a data center. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
Data centers require large amounts of water to cool their systems, which heat up as they process digital information through large numbers of computers and network servers. Systems that are not “closed loop” require water that does not evaporate to be circulated and discharged.
Most data centers in Virginia are allowed to discharge water into municipal wastewater systems, the same location where household water is treated and recycled for consumption. However, data tracking of potential chemicals in data center wastewater is limited.
At least one data center is permitted to discharge directly into the state’s natural water source, Northeast Creek in Louisa County. Another has applied for a similar permit to discharge water into nearby Sedges Creek, which flows into Lake Anna.
That water is pretreated before being released into streams, and limits are set for certain metals and temperatures by the Department of Environmental Quality. However, gaps in knowledge about the chemical composition of data center wastewater have raised major questions about whether “forever chemicals” can contaminate water from facilities and pose risks to human and environmental health.
cool the water
Amazon’s Lake Anna Tech Park project will include the same evaporative water cooling system it uses at its Northeast Creek site. Until the industrial system is connected, H2O is supplied from the well water. At that point, the water passes through a “membrane” that cools the air, and a fan blows the air into the data hole containing the computer.
Amazon, which operates dozens of data centers in the state, said it only uses the vapor deposition method a small portion of the year at its two sites in Louisa. The rest of the time, air is brought in from outside for cooling. Water routed through an evaporative cooling system is considered non-contact and does not come into direct contact with computer equipment.
“Luisa County relies on outdoor natural air cooling for approximately 96% of the year and only uses water cooling during the hottest months, which represents approximately 4% of its annual operations,” Amazon said in a statement.
After a few cycles, the water should be released. The system dechlorinates the water and manages pH balance before sending it to the creek.
“During this process, it is necessary to periodically drain the cooling water, and this cooling water is called “non-contact cooling water.” “IT equipment is never touched and processed in accordance with state environmental standards before shipment,” an Amazon representative said.
Large, new data centers are often designed with “closed loop” systems, which means they don’t take in as much water on a daily basis. Initially, hundreds of gallons of water are pumped into this type of system, most of which evaporates, and is replenished as needed.
But it requires more energy to work.
Aerial view of an Amazon Web Services data center located near a single-family home in Stone Ridge, Virginia, on July 17, 2024. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Closed-loop systems often use something called mechanical or liquid cooling. In this cooling, water is recirculated within the system, cooled, and placed directly on the chip to reduce the temperature. Heat from these systems still needs to be exhausted through the HVAC system.
The water is pre-treated before being released into the stream, with specific metals and temperatures set by DEQ. However, recent reports of the ubiquity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in everything from water to soil to household products have community members increasingly concerned that data center wastewater may also contain them.
Residents also raised the following concerns: PFAS is present inside the device A part of a data center that is used to cool heated systems and is regularly replaced every few years.
These chemicals can have the following effects: serious health effects Exposure to even small amounts can reduce fertility, increase the risk of some cancers, and weaken the immune system.
Currently, Virginia does not have data center wastewater testing requirements for PFAS, nor does the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Water discharged from data centers into wastewater systems or streams is not explicitly required to be tested for PFAS, so it is unclear whether PFAS are present.
“We know that they may be using not only PFAS, but other toxic chemicals. We know that they have released large amounts of water, at least into treatment facilities and some of it into surface waters,” said Jonathan Kalmus Katz of Earthjustice, a nonprofit that litigates environmental cases. “And beyond that, it’s just a vacuum. There’s a really dangerous lack of information.”
Although the Institute for the Environment and Energy reports that PFAS may be present in liquid-based cooling systems, the Luisa Amazon data center does not use liquid-based cooling systems. Data on how much of these chemicals are being released from the center and causing pollution It’s minimal.
Documents provided by DEQ in response to community concerns about potential chemicals in treated water for the Sedges Creek permit application provide some answers.
“25% sodium hydroxide, 93% sulfuric acid, 40% sodium bisulfite, polyaluminum chloride, polymer, sulfide-functional polymer, and 32% calcium chloride,” the agency wrote. “While these chemicals are removed during the treatment process, total residual chlorine (TRC), chloride, and pH are monitored to ensure they are removed and that the treatment process is working properly.”
What Virginia Allows
Data centers that discharge pre-treated water to wastewater infrastructure must comply with local treatment requirements and regulations. The amount of water that can be unloaded varies by project and is determined by local leaders.
Industry representatives stress that they follow local and state regulations that do not include PFAS testing on wastewater.
“Companies that actually discharge wastewater treat it in a variety of ways in accordance with the law. Some companies send the wastewater back to city treatment plants, while others treat it on-site,” Nicole Riley of the Data Center Coalition said in an interview. “Some data centers actually emit cleaner water than they take in. In all cases, the industry takes seriously its responsibility to comply with applicable laws and regulations.”
The permit for Amazon’s data center on the Northeast Tech campus in Louisa allows it to release up to 460,000 gallons of water a day into Northeast Creek, which feeds into Lake Anna.
Under that data center’s pollutant discharge removal system permit, operators are required to test monthly and sometimes daily for residual chlorine, aluminum, cadmium, copper, zinc, hardness, and pH used in the processing steps. Water temperature should be maintained below 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Generally, data collected during the five-year permit period for most data centers must be evaluated by state regulators before the permit can be reissued. Depending on the results, data center operators may need to make adjustments.
“For data centers, the source water, the type of cooling system, and the additives used in the cooling system are important and must be evaluated to determine the reasonable likelihood of contaminants being present in the discharge,” DEQ officials said.
PFAS, which harm human and environmental health, also enter drinking water and the human body. (Photo credit: CasarsaGuru via Getty Images)
A draft permit to build an additional Amazon data center on the Lake Anna Tech campus would allow up to 280,000 gallons per day to be discharged into Sedges Creek. We follow the same standards for metals, pH, and temperature regulation.
Amazon expects to eliminate the need for year-round cooling systems. DEQ says it plans to use it.Water usage will likely be less than the permitted gallons, “mainly from April to October each year,” but the company claims water usage will be even lower, with only 4% of the year requiring a water cooling system rather than using air from outside the facility.
The draft permit also allows regulators to change it in the future to include PFAS testing if they wish.
“Permits may be reopened to incorporate changes to applicable standards or requirements, including those related to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” DEQ said. This is a step advocates want the state to take.
“Wastewater can and should be tested before it is discharged to a public treatment facility (POTW). POTWs need to know what the source of the PFAS they are dealing with is,” Kalmus-Katz said.
New PFAS regulations on the way
This year’s General Assembly advanced the bill. Towards PFAS inspection We are trying to identify the biggest polluters of chemicals in wastewater.
Senate Bill 138 requires public wastewater treatment facilities, industrial companies that use PFAS, airports, and fire protection facilities to test for PFAS emissions. Currently, data centers are not subject to the self-reporting requirements of this law.
Additionally, another bill was signed that would require biosolids (sewage sludge from sewage treatment plants that are converted into fertilizer for farms) to be tested for the presence of PFAS. this is past laws Tracking the biggest sources of PFAS ending up in wastewater treatment facilities.
The Trump administration is firmly committed to expanding AI infrastructure, including data centers, by signing executive orders to strengthen the industry and the power transmission and generation needed to support it.
Next, EPA announced Rapid review of new chemicals intended for use by the data center industry in the manufacture of its equipment and components.
what happens next
The next public hearing on the draft permit to release Amazon’s data center into Sedges Creek is scheduled to be held at Louisa County Middle School on June 9, 2026 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., from which DEQ will make a final decision on whether to approve the permit for the facility.
It remains to be seen whether state or local officials will begin requiring data center wastewater to be tested for PFAS and what that process will entail.
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