Georgia AI Data Center Drained 29M Gallons of Unmetered Water

A Blackstone-owned data center campus in Fayette County, Georgia, secretly consumed 29 million gallons of water over 15 months through two unmetered connections the county didn't know existed. The 6.2 million-square-foot QTS Fayetteville ("Project Excalibur") site, among the largest data center developments in the US, was discovered after nearby residents reported low water pressure.

Key Details

• Volume: 29 million gallons drawn via two unauthorized water connections.
• Duration: 15 months before detection.
• Discovery: Residents complained about low water pressure; county investigation traced it to the data center.
• Penalty: County waived fines, charged only $147,474 in retroactive water charges.
• Scale: 615-acre campus with 13 buildings, total 6.2 million sq ft, with plans for expansion.
• Context: While the data center drew water without permission, the county was simultaneously asking residents to stop watering lawns to conserve water.

This incident highlights growing tensions around AI data center resource consumption. As AI compute demands surge, data centers increasingly compete with local communities for water and power. Unlike residential water use, data centers typically use water for cooling — often thousands of gallons per megawatt-hour of IT load. The lack of oversight and lenient enforcement in this case may set a precedent for other AI infrastructure projects.