Commission hears report on data-center visit; staff raises reuse of wastewater for cooling

Jerry summarized a recent site visit to a data center in Hammond, describing an air-cooled facility that uses minimal on-site staff and has robust security and backup-generation arrangements. He said the center he visited had “parking for maybe 20 cars” and only a handful of visible staff on site.

Jerry said that particular site does not use large volumes of lake water for cooling and is air cooled, but noted that some data centers pursue reuse of municipal wastewater as a source of cooling water. He explained that water reclaimed from the treatment plant can be attractive because the plant effluent often has lower total dissolved solids than some potable supplies and can reduce downstream phosphorus load if handled correctly. Still, he said, data-center reuse raises operational questions for the city because concentrated or evaporated reuse streams produce higher dissolved solids that must be treated or blended before discharge.

Jerry described one technical option the plant has considered: a side-stream treatment process dedicated to treating data-center return flows rather than blending those streams into the main plant flow. Such a side-stream could preserve main-plant capacity and downstream discharge limits but would require capital investment and negotiation in agreements with a data-center operator.

Commissioners discussed potential local benefits such as tax revenue and site design approaches developers might adopt, including large setbacks, tree lines and landscape buffers. Jerry said developers have proposed that centers can be “very good” for a host community’s tax situation, but provided no financial specifics.

No formal action was taken; commissioners requested staff continue to evaluate reuse options and potential infrastructure needs and to include treatment-plant implications in future negotiations with data-center developers.