The Potomac River basin is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world, which could contribute to a shortage of drinking water from the Potomac — the primary, and in some cases, sole source of potable water near the nation’s capital.
In a newly released blog post, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, abbreviated ICPRB, describes some of the ways in which data center growth, which is primarily located in Virginia’s Loudoun and Prince William counties, can affect whether there is enough drinking water to serve Fairfax Water, WSSC Water and the Washington Aqueduct.
“There are 290 data centers in the Potomac River Basin,” said Michael Nardolilli, executive director of the interstate commission, which has a mission “to protect and enhance the waters and related resources of the Potomac River basin through science, regional cooperation, and education,” according to the group’s website.
While much scrutiny of data centers’ utility use focuses on electricity, data centers primarily use water to maintain a safe operating temperature for IT equipment.
“They have a lot of chips that generate a lot of heat, and they need to be cooled,” Nardolilli said. “There are two ways that are generally used to cool these chips; one is water-cooled systems, which is evaporation and the other one is air-cooled.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Neal Augenstein over at WTOP
