South Carolina doesn’t track how many data centers are in the state, much less the amount of water those data processing warehouses are using. State Commerce Secretary Harry Lightsey estimates 20-30 data centers are currently in South Carolina, but other facilities have been proposed around the state.
As South Carolina considers future water availability for its residents and businesses, thirsty data centers, which use water for cooling their computers, could put additional strain on the state’s natural resources, said Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler.
“This explosion of growth really does potentially threaten our water resources if we’re not watching it, and we’re not putting up guardrails to make sure that it doesn’t harm either our waterways or the communities that depend on them,” Stangler said.
Proposals in the South Carolina legislature would create water efficiency standards and tracking requirements for data centers. A bill in front of a small panel of Senators would also require the state to consider access to natural resources before permitting new large data centers. It’s important to consider water access when deciding where to place data centers, said David Fuente, an associate professor in the University of South Carolina’s Earth, Ocean and Environment department.
“It clearly is a problem if you’re siting data centers in places that are water scarce or have the potential to be water scarce,” Fuente said.
While South Carolina doesn’t track water use or predicted demands of data centers, some local governments and companies make the information public. For example, Google’s data center in Berkeley County withdrew 853.8 million gallons of drinking water in 2024, which is equivalent to the annual irrigation of 5.2 golf courses, according to the company’s most recent sustainability report.
In its final phase of development, one of the two planned Google Dorchester County data centers could use 978.2 million gallons of water annually, according to county estimates obtained by The State in October.
Hyperscale data centers are warehouses of servers used to power data processing, including for the internet and artificial intelligence. As companies scale up digital services and adopt artificial intelligence, demand for data centers in the United States has risen. Technology companies like Google, Meta and DC Blox have all flocked to South Carolina.
In-progress or proposed data centers include plans in Aiken, Colleton, Dorchester, Marion and Spartanburg counties, some of which will power artificial intelligence.
The data centers could bring jobs and tax revenue to the communities they settle in, Lightsey told lawmakers. But they also can use large amounts of energy and water, so proper siting is important, South Carolina Department of Environmental Services water regulator Rob Devlin told lawmakers Thursday.
“There are places in our state that probably aren’t going to be able to have adequate water supply for many types of data centers, so the planning aspect is very important,” Devlin said.
Devlin told lawmakers local utilities report how much water they are drawing on in South Carolina, but the utilities don’t tell regulators the amount of water they provide large customers. Power companies, large manufacturers and megafarms are also large water users in the state.
Why do data centers need water?
A proposed data center campus in Colleton County would take up more than 850 acres of servers and other equipment needed to process data for an unknown or undisclosed digital service. All that equipment will need to be cooled using water.
Data centers often pull from surface and groundwater sources, Fuente said.
There are more water-efficient ways to keep data centers from overheating, like closed-loop cooling or cooling chips, rather than the whole warehouse. Devlin said evaporative cooling, where the water is not returned, is the most efficient method at the moment. Fuente said evaporative cooling is also the most prevalent method.
“It’s not water that’s being treated and released back into the environment, it’s water that’s being consumed,” Fuente said.
The Trump administration wants to create a data center compact with Big Tech companies, Politico reported Monday. The compact, which has not been made public yet, would direct data centers to be “water positive” and not negatively impact local water supplies.
Does SC have enough water?
South Carolina is a relatively water-rich state, Stangler said. While water shortages are not an immediate concern, it could be a problem if data centers rapidly move into South Carolina, use large amounts of water and the state doesn’t track usage, Stangler said.
“It’s not a today problem, but it is certainly a potential problem in the future,” Stangler said
A new South Carolina water plan, initially published in November, said the state has adequate surface water for the next several decades. But some major streams, lakes and rivers could be in danger by 2070 if their state-allotted waters are withdrawn. But the report did not factor in future data center demand.
To make sure the state has enough water, it needs to budget for large industry and population growth, and site and permit based on availability, Fuente said. Proposals from Sens. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and Luke Rankin, R-Horry, require the state to permit new data centers. Davis’ bill gives the job to the Department of Environmental Services, and Rankin’s plan assigns it to the Public Service Commission.
“I think an important trade-off in the water sector is the competing needs from agriculture, cities and towns and industry, including data centers. And so, at the state level, just thinking carefully about water allocation across those three sectors is really important with the best available information they have regarding droughts projections, etc.,” Fuente said.
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