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Residents urge Madison County to regulate data centers and consider moratorium amid water concerns
Summary
At the June 29 meeting, resident Dana Neans urged the board to adopt local regulations or a moratorium on data centers, citing examples of high water use in neighboring counties and recommending conditional-use permitting and broad definitions to prevent loopholes.
Dana Neans told the Madison County Board of Commissioners she has researched data-center development and urged the county to be proactive in setting rules, including defining data centers broadly, using conditional-use permits and considering a moratorium while regulations are drafted. Neans cited a large data-center complex in Newton County she said accounts for about 10% of that county’s daily water use and warned that similar development could strain Madison County’s water resources if cooling systems remain water-intensive.
She provided staff with a written summary and directed commissioners to a research resource (AI Now) with model local regulations and action steps. Commissioners and staff acknowledged battery-backup hazards and said the county currently lacks the water capacity to support water-cooled data centers; officials said they would prefer to consider closed-loop cooling proposals and would engage with utility planning before approving any large data-center projects.
No regulatory change or moratorium was enacted at the meeting. Staff accepted the materials and said they will review model ordinances and coordinate with engineers and development-review staff to determine whether a regulatory text or conditional-use process should be proposed to the board in a future agenda.
