Microsoft data centers will use up to 8.4M gallons of water each year, records show

Microsoft’s data centers in the village of Mount Pleasant will require up to 8.4 million gallons of water each year, according to data released Wednesday by the city of Racine.

The release comes after the environmental group Midwest Environmental Advocates sued the city for failing to release the data under a public records request made by the environmental group Milwaukee Riverkeeper. Racine’s water utility is providing water for Microsoft’s data center campus under an agreement between the city of Racine and Mount Pleasant.

The data obtained by WPR from the city shows the first phase of Microsoft’s data center campus would use a peak of 234,000 gallons per day or 2.8 million gallons per year. Under subsequent phases, the campus would use a peak of 702,000 gallons per day or 8.4 million gallons annually.

In the lawsuit filed Monday, environmental advocates accused the city of failing to fulfill its request for 210 days. The city said in a news release the delay stemmed from additional review conducted with Microsoft to ensure releasing the information wouldn’t violate contractual agreements.

“Open and transparent government is not optional; it is essential to public trust,” Racine Mayor Cory Mason said in a statement.

“While we needed time to ensure that we handled this request responsibly and in compliance with legal agreements, we believe transparency is paramount,” Mason continued.

A Microsoft spokesperson said there’s no expectation that water use by the company’s data centers would exceed 8.4 million gallons annually or require additional permitting at this time, including as part of its plans to expand.

“Our datacenter campus in Mount Pleasant leverages the latest and most innovative cooling technology available. In past datacenter designs, water has played a key role in datacenter cooling and humidification, but our new designs aim to eliminate this continuous need for municipal water for cooling. The bottom line is that this data center, and others we build in the future, will not require massive amounts of water,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the amount of water it expects to consume each year is “significantly lower” than many industrial customers served by a typical municipal water system.

Tech companies commonly use nondisclosure agreements with local governments on data center projects to shield information from competitors, but those agreements can conflict with public record laws.

Leslie Flynn, city of Racine spokesperson, said the city does not have such an agreement with Microsoft. Even so, Flynn said the company requested certain documents be treated as trade secrets. Documents designated as trade secrets under the Wisconsin Uniform Trade Secrets Act may be withheld under the state’s public records law. However, Flynn said Microsoft has now waived its request to treat the data as trade secrets.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper along with Midwest Environmental Advocates had sought a court order to force the city to immediately produce records in its lawsuit filed Monday. Peg Sheaffer, spokesperson for Midwest Environmental Advocates, said release of the data is a step in the right direction.

“It shouldn’t have taken this this long, and it certainly shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to get this single piece of paper from the city of Racine,” Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer said it’s troubling that tech companies are seeking to shield information from public access, noting the environmental law center will review the data and consult with clients about whether it will continue to pursue the case.

Massive data centers can require between 1 and 5 million gallons per day. Environmental groups say data centers should be required to disclose their water and energy use.

In December, Microsoft said most of its Mount Pleasant data center campus will use a new closed-loop system design that will consume zero water for cooling. The system is expected to use a peak of 350,000 gallons per day on the hottest days of the year during the months of May through September.

The data released by the city Wednesday also shows the centers would discharge around 81,000 gallons of wastewater daily or roughly 2 million gallons each year in the first phase of development. Subsequent phases would discharge 243,000 gallons of wastewater daily or about 6 million gallons annually.

The amount of water used by Microsoft would fall within Racine’s approved diversion of up to 7 million gallons daily from Lake Michigan.

In 2018, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved Racine’s request to draw up to 7 million gallons of Lake Michigan water daily for Foxconn under the Great Lakes Compact. That agreement bans diversions of Great Lakes water with limited exceptions that include diversions for a “straddling community.” The village of Mount Pleasant fits that bill.

Construction on the first phase of Microsoft’s development is set to wrap up by early 2026. The company has already begun hiring full-time employees to support its operation.

Microsoft is also preparing plans to proceed with expansion. That investment is on top of the $3.3 billion investment announced in May last year by then-President Joe Biden and Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith.

Microsoft has purchased around 1,900 acres of land, much of which was originally intended for Foxconn. Microsoft’s plans came years after Foxconn promised to build an LCD screen manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant that would create 13,000 jobs. Today, Foxconn employs around 1,100 people in the village.