i9 Investigation: Concerns over water usage at Cedar Rapids data centers lead to much larger questions

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) — Data centers are infamous for excessive water use — and with two new data centers on the way, many are concerned about water usage here in Cedar Rapids.

The city has recently announced plans for two new data centers on the southwest side of town.

One center is a $576 million facility from Google.

The other is a $750 million facility from QTS.

Data centers are known to use excessive amounts of water in order to cool computer servers and equipment.

City leaders tell TV9 they are confident the city’s water system can handle the added demand.

However, it seems that the city is hiding a key piece of information from the public — who exactly is using the city’s water.

This is about more than just the data centers.

This lack of information now raises serious concerns about the usage of Cedar Rapids’ natural resources.

It is well known that data centers use a lot of water.

However, it is not likely that the new data centers would use nearly as much water as the city’s current largest consumer.

The current largest consumer used more than 4 billion gallons in the last year. That’s nearly equivalent to nearly all the water in Lake MacBride. Who exactly is using all this water? It’s a secret.

One Cedar Rapids man is concerned with how much water the proposed data centers may use.

“We kayak and backpack and camp,” said Wally Taylor.

Getting out on the Cedar River is a big part of Taylor’s life, and making sure Iowa waterways are clean and plentiful is a fight he’s taken on as a member of the Iowa Sierra Club.

Cedar Rapids pulls its water from aquifers and wells along the Cedar River, and according to the Iowa Geological Survey, recent drought conditions have led to aquifers not recharging as quickly.

“If there’s a drought, or there is just way too much water withdrawal, you are impacting the river, and that increases pollution too, because there is not enough water to disperse the pollution,” Taylor said.

Water is a resource the city uses to attract new business, like the two proposed data centers set to be built in the Big Cedar Industrial area on the southwest side.

“It’s a new attraction to other business that, wants, in addition to the water, the wastewater, and the power that we have here,” said Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell. “A data center here attracts a different kind of business.”

“The wastewater is, as we understand it, relatively clean wastewater,” said Cedar Rapids Utilities Director Roy Hessmann.

There are no specific plans for the data centers at this point. Because of this, neither Cedar Rapids nor Google will tell anyone exactly how much water they plan to use.

Google operates another facility in Council Bluffs. The data center there uses about 2.7 million gallons of water each day, or 980 million gallons a year.

City staff expect the Cedar Rapids center to use less water due to improving technology.

The QTS data center would use even less water, due to different operations.

“It re-circulates water, so, from a water usage standpoint, for example, it’s significantly less,” said Mayor O’Donnell.

The city said its current biggest user pumps about 12.5 million gallons of water a day, about a quarter of the city’s capacity. That’s far more water than the Google data center would use.

TV9 attempted to get more information on the city’s largest consumer, but the city refused to identify the user, citing state law.

“Wonder, first of all, why they don’t want to give the information out and number,” said Taylor. “We want to check and see if there is a valid reason for not releasing certain parts of the information, at least.”

Cedar Rapids isn’t the only city hiding information from the public. Dubuque also gave TV9 a list of its biggest users, but refused to identify them, citing the same state law. Iowa City refused to tell TV9 anything, responding simply “No”.

All this means the public has no way to know who is consuming all this water.

“I think that it’s important for the public to get as good of a picture as possible of what water is being used and by whom,” said Taylor.

But The Iowa Public Information Board said the cities actually can release that information.

The state law allows cities to protect “private customer information” of city utilities. The Iowa Public Information Board said that gives cities “discretion” on what is released, but that does not bar them from making the information public.

Hessmann said the city is always looking at its ability to supply ample water to its customers. One of the ways it’s doing this is through a $348 million upgrade to the city’s nearly 50-year-old water treatment facility.

Hessmann said the upgrades will expand the city’s overall capacity when the project is completed in 2029. It’s a benefit Mayor O’Donnell said attracts businesses to Cedar Rapids.

“We have the resources and the space at a time when AI, and among other things, is increasing the need for data,” said O’Donnell.

For Taylor, the Cedar River is worth protecting. Any large diversion of its water could cause environmental problems in the future.

“We’re going to be seeing a lot of water withdrawn with the data centers that are being contemplated, and other industries,” said Taylor.

For now, it is unknown what the future holds.

But for people like Taylor, the future of the city’s water holds a lot of weight.

Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.