Proposals for new data centers across our region spark concerns over water usage, community impact

Proposals for new data centers have been popping up all across our region.

Data centers are massive server farms. They generate less truck traffic than a warehouse, but they often require more electricity than thousands of homes, and use thousands of gallons of water every day to cool the computers. With the emergence of AI technology, proposals to build them are popping up everywhere.

Right now, data centers are currently proposed in South Whitehall Township, Upper Macungie Township, Lower Mount Bethel Township, and Limerick Township just to name a few.

James Kern, a commissioner in Warren County, New Jersey, said it’s time to pump the brakes.

“I felt this is an opportunity perhaps for the County to offer some of our expertise to the local municipalities to give them an ordinance to at least start the discussion at a bare minimum on how to handle these data centers that are starting to pop up really overnight,” said Kern.

He sent an ordinance to localities all over the County, and some like the Town of Phillipsburg, have already adopted it. It bans the construction of data centers without a special exemption from the locality. Kern said he’s most concerned about the water use.

“If these data centers are pulling from well water, I mean that can be incredibly damaging to not only to residential homes, but other local businesses,” said Kern.

People in other localities, like Lower Mount Bethel Township, have started a petition to fight the data center proposed there. Kern said his ordinance keeps it from getting to that point.

“Let’s pause, let’s plan, and then kind of have a smart development about where ultimately they could go, because ultimately these places are going to exist, it’s just where is the right place for them to be,” said Kern.