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Resident urges county to pursue data-center water-reuse and highlights Portage Manor Woods assessment
Summary
A South Bend resident told commissioners she’d heard Microsoft is moving to near-zero fresh-water cooling systems for its data centers and urged the county to require or incentivize similar technology for data-center applicants; she also praised a county ecological assessment for Portage Manor Woods.
During public comment at the end of the St. Joseph County Commissioners meeting, resident Deb Durell urged the commission to note that some data-center operators are adopting cooling systems that recycle most of the cooling water and sharply reduce fresh-water use.
Durell told commissioners she had information — not confirmed in the meeting — that Microsoft data centers are piloting a design that recycles cooling water and uses “almost zero fresh water” to run facility cooling systems. She also said Amazon may already be using similar systems in Olive Township and New Carlisle and asked commissioners to add recycled-cooling performance to the checklist for future data-center applicants.
Durell also praised the county’s ecological assessment for the Portage Manor Woods project, calling the report “really high quality” and encouraging public review.
The commission did not provide a response verifying the data-center claim during the meeting; the commenter characterized the information as coming from a fairly reliable source but noted it had not been independently confirmed in the session.
