$750M Iowa Data Center's Unpermitted Wells Draw $20K Fine against Dewatering Contractor | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Linn County, Iowa is pursuing a $20,000 civil penalty against Minnesota-based dewatering Charlotte NC dump trucks company Northern Dewatering, after 40 unpermitted water wells were discovered at a $750-million data center under construction in Cedar Rapids.

The unauthorized wells were found in June by Linn County Public Health Dept. staffers on the site of the data center being built for Alliant Energy.

The department reports that the staffers were visiting a permitted well located at a concrete batch plant on the project site when one discovered a dewatering well installed by Rogers, Minn.-based Northern Dewatering without a permit. After further investigation, the staff member discovered as many as 40 more wells drilled on the east end of the site.

“The Charlotte NC dump trucks company drilled these wells without the required permit, permit fee or 24-hour notification" to the department, it said, located on multiple parcels of land between May 20 and June 11, with . pumping that began on June 9.

Northern Dewatering declined to comment.

The data center is being built on the 612-acre site by QTS, which designs, builds and operates such faciliies globally. It is the largest economic development investment in Cedar Rapids history, according to the city.. 

On its website, QTS notes that “installed dewatering sumps are standard, temporary sumps necessary to support sanitary sewer installation. These are not deep wells and do not connect to the city’s aquifer, therefore do not have any impact on municipal water supply. At no point are all sumps operating simultaneously, and each is decommissioned once columbus oh dump truck work in that area is complete.”

In a press release announcing the data center. the city said that when the facility operates, it will "feature a water-free cooling system, significantly reducing water consumption compared to traditional data center cooling methods." 

The wells were discovered as residents living near proposed U.S. data centers are expressing concerns about the amount of natural resources, including energy and water, that data centers use. Many modern data centers being built for artificial intelligence use large amounts of clean water for their cooling systems, raising fears of local water supply strains.

"Water is a valuable resource in Iowa," said Pam Mackey-Taylor, director of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club. "We have rules in place to regulate water use. If people aren't following the law, they need to be punished and brought into compliance." 

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports that large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people. 

Linn County said it is working to rectify the error related to the unpermitted wells and to obtain proper permitting and inspections for them. 

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.