Atlanta’s data center boom runs into a water problem
Key points:
- • Data center growth is pushing water availability and infrastructure capacity higher on metro Atlanta’s development agenda.
- • Georgia’s conservation gains are helping support growth, but water demand is becoming a larger consideration for future projects.
- • Technology choices, resource planning, and utility coordination are emerging as key factors in the region’s next phase of digital infrastructure expansion.
June 2026 — Atlanta’s data center boom is accelerating as the region pushes to become a digital infrastructure powerhouse. As developers race to build and absorb facilities that support AI, cloud computing, and digital services, questions about water use, energy demand, land conservation, and community impacts are becoming harder to ignore.
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“As our region faces worsening drought conditions, anything that can extend water resources is important,” said Melissa Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, in an interview with Invest:.
Coweta County commissioners approved a $17 billion data center campus called Project Sail in April despite months of opposition from residents who raised concerns about environmental impacts and infrastructure demands, setting off one of the most contentious land-use battles in metro Atlanta’s recent history. The decision sparked a lawsuit seeking to overturn the rezoning approval.
Project Sail will cover 4.34 million square feet — a campus critics describe as roughly the size of 606 football fields. Residents have raised concerns about impacts on conservation land, new transmission lines, an estimated 4,000 additional daily vehicle trips, and the potential use of eminent domain affecting more than 25 homes to route power to the site. The developers dispute the eminent domain claim, but opposition has remained strong, with residents packing commission meetings and signing petitions.
Similar concerns have surfaced elsewhere in metro Atlanta. In Fayette County, officials discovered that a data center campus had consumed nearly 29 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 44 Olympic-size swimming pools, during a period when two water connections were not being properly billed. The incident drew attention to the scale of water demand associated with large data center operations, a growing concern as more facilities are proposed across the region. The company later paid $147,474 in retroactive charges after the issue was identified.
The debate comes as data center development accelerates across Georgia. The state is home to 17 operating data centers and another 83 planned projects that would add more than 9,200 megawatts of capacity. The region continues to attract significant investment, with Georgia Economic Development announcing $26.3 billion in capital investment and more than 23,200 jobs statewide in FY25. As development accelerates, questions are emerging about whether the region’s infrastructure and regulatory frameworks can absorb that growth without impacting the communities and resources that support it.
Growth meets water constraints
Water availability is becoming a more prominent consideration as data center development expands across metro Atlanta. The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District has highlighted the importance of evaluating water demand, wastewater treatment needs, energy use, and infrastructure capacity early in the development process. The discussion comes as the region continues to emerge as a national data center hub, with more than 50 operating facilities and another 40 proposals under consideration.
Metro Atlanta’s water system faces a unique constraint, as more than 99% of the region’s water supply comes from rivers, streams, and reservoirs, while groundwater accounts for less than 1%. Nearly 71% of the district’s water originates from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River, making long-term resource planning central to both water security and future development.
The region has spent decades preparing for this challenge, reducing per-capita water use by more than 30% over the past 25 years through conservation programs, water-efficient technologies, leak reduction efforts, and long-term planning requirements. Water planners continue to emphasize conservation, efficiency, and long-term resource management as core strategies for supporting future growth while protecting the region’s water supplies.
That focus extends beyond utilities and water planners, as conservation officials have long emphasized that development decisions can affect watersheds, stormwater runoff, and water quality. As data center proposals and other large-scale developments move through the approval process, those considerations are becoming a more visible part of discussions surrounding growth and infrastructure planning across metro Atlanta.
The outlook is further complicated by the fact that data centers do not all place the same demands on local water systems. University of Georgia researchers note that water consumption varies significantly based on facility size, cooling technology, and operating conditions. Many large facilities use evaporative cooling because it reduces energy consumption, while newer closed-loop and direct liquid cooling systems can substantially reduce water use, often at a higher cost. As more projects move through the development pipeline, those technology choices are becoming part of broader conversations about infrastructure planning and resource management.
Utilities are already adapting to those pressures through technologies designed to identify problems before they become disruptions. “What we are seeing in the water industry is the ability to harness AI to focus more on predictive analytics and getting ahead of a crisis,” Meeker said. “Rather than being responsive, we can be more proactive.”
Want more? Read the Focus: Atlanta report.
