Monitoring for Water Quality as Data Center Usage Expands

Monitoring water quality in the context of data center discharge is essential due to the facilities’ environmental, regulatory, and operational implications. For example, data centers often use water for cooling. If they simply discharge heated water back into natural water bodies, disrupting aquatic ecosystems by altering oxygen levels and temperatures. Some data centers may also use chemicals for water treatment, which can end up in discharge, affecting water quality downstream. Governments and environmental agencies like the EPA in the US impose strict limits on water discharge to ensure that it meets quality standards for temperature, pH, and chemical content. Monitoring ensures compliance with these regulations to avoid fines or shutdowns.

But beyond that, tech companies have a responsibility to all stakeholders, and many multinational organizations in this sector are striving to align with sustainability initiatives, such as net-zero water use or minimizing environmental footprints. Monitoring discharge is critical to achieving and demonstrating these goals. By protecting water quality and minimizing water usage and waste, these organizations, and their data centers, can protect their reputations.

There’s more: data centers often release their water back into public water systems, and local utilities will need to prepare themselves for a potential influx of wastewater from data centers. While data centers can do their best to monitor and treat water, utilities are the last line of defence between wastewater and the surrounding communities and ecosystems. They have their own compliance mandates and local/statewide/federal water quality standards that must be protected.

By having a system in place that can monitor the influx, automate the process, and place less strain on budgets and labor, utilities can do more to protect water quality while spending less time and money.