Virginia Groundwater Report Narrows Data Centre Siting East Of I-95

A Virginia Department of Environmental Quality study makes groundwater availability a siting constraint for data centres near the I-95 corridor.

The study found no evaluated Coastal Plain region could support a three-million-gallon-per-day industrial groundwater withdrawal under current state permitting standards.

The constraint affects a region where power, fibre and existing data-centre clusters already make sites attractive for AI infrastructure.

The water finding narrows one route developers may use to support evaporative cooling: drilling on-site wells rather than relying on municipal or alternative supplies.

DEQ Tested A Three-Million-Gallon Industrial Withdrawal

The 144-page DEQ study was ordered by Virginia's General Assembly.

The department modelled a hypothetical industrial facility seeking to withdraw three million gallons of groundwater per day, then tested whether any evaluated region could meet Virginia's technical permit criteria.

The DEQ study calculated the maximum sustainable withdrawal at 360,000 gallons per day in Northumberland County.

The DEQ study put Henrico and Sussex counties near the I-95 corridor below 30,000 gallons per day.

The permit scenario covers a large water-intensive facility, including a hyperscale data centre using evaporative cooling.

The highest-capacity locations are far from the established development clusters that already have grid and fibre infrastructure.

Municipal Water Becomes The Likely Supply Path

DEQ spokesperson Irina Calos characterised the study as evidence of groundwater levels that are insufficient for large industrial water use.

The development route described by the agency would need municipal or alternative water supplies.

The findings do not evaluate named projects or reject data centres as a category.

They remove groundwater wells from the list of easy assumptions for large campuses east of I-95, where local water conditions now sit beside power delivery, transmission timing and cooling design in site planning.

Alex de Vries-Gao of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Digiconomist told Data Center Knowledge that the result makes municipal water more likely for future projects and reduces the feasibility of on-site groundwater wells.

His comments also separate on-site water use from the wider water footprint of electricity generation.

Aquifer Recovery Has Started To Reverse

Aquifer movement over the past decade explains why the permit scenario failed.

After the Franklin paper mill stopped operating in 2010 and Virginia tightened groundwater management, levels recovered for several years.

The study places the peak near 2021, with measurements now levelling off or moving lower.

DEQ cut the combined maximum permitted withdrawals of the region's 14 largest groundwater users from 146.54 million gallons per day to 73.59 million gallons per day between 2014 and 2017.

Another regional downturn is expected within a five-to-10-year window if the baseline does not change.

The regulated areas also include substantial non-industrial demand.

Industrial facilities account for 35% of reported and estimated withdrawals, while private household wells make up 34% and public water systems represent 26%, leaving new large industrial loads to compete with existing demand.

Cooling Choices Shift Water Into The Power System

The study does not make dry cooling an automatic answer.

De Vries-Gao warned that replacing evaporative cooling with more power-intensive systems can push water use into electricity generation, rather than removing it from the full footprint.

Meta's 2024 disclosures separate on-site water use from water embedded in purchased electricity.

Data Center Knowledge reported the electricity-related figure at 72.2 billion litres for that year.

Shaolei Ren, an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, told Data Center Knowledge that operators need to consider water and electricity together because zero on-site water can mean higher cooling power demand in summer.

Data centre projects near Virginia's established clusters still need municipal supply agreements, reclaimed-water options or cooling designs that fit local aquifer limits.