Data center expansion raises questions about water quality

The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club says rapid growth in data centers is raising concerns about water use and water quality.

Conservation coordinator Jess Mazour says growing water demands could have implications for both rural communities and agriculture.

“We deserve to know if it’s coming from an aquifer, a river, how much, what kind of cooling systems. All that water usage stuff is important because we know that if we are not wise with our water resources, we are going to end up like states like Kansas and Nebraska over the Ogallala Aquifer where they are basically having water wars.”

Speaking during an Iowa Farmers Union webinar on Thursday, she said there are also concerns about an uptick in PFAS, or forever chemicals.

“It takes a very, very long time for (PFAS) chemicals to break down. In order to make these semiconductors for data centers and a lot of these cooling systems, they require a lot of PFAS and actually are going to increase the production of PFAS as we’re talking about phasing out the production of PFAS.”

Mazour says Iowa lacks the safeguards needed to manage the rapid expansion of data centers.

“Iowa has never done a comprehensive study on how much water we have in our aquifers, how quickly we’re using it, and how long it’s going to last. Without that, we can’t make good decisions on the use of our water, especially for data centers.”

During the 2026 legislative session, Iowa lawmakers introduced House File 2690, which would have required data center operators to disclose information about their water and electricity usage. The bill failed to advance in the House, meaning lawmakers would need to introduce new legislation in 2027 to revisit the issue.