Massive Data Centers May Make Groundwater Pollution Worse - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica highlights the environmental and health challenges linked to massive data centers and agricultural practices in eastern Oregon, particularly around the town of Boardman and Morrow County. While data centers require substantial electricity—often from fossil fuels—and large volumes of water for cooling, the key issue discussed is how these operations exacerbate existing groundwater pollution. The Lower Umatilla aquifer, which supplies water to local farms and residents, is already contaminated with nitrates from decades of intensive farming, pesticide, and fertilizer use. The data centers themselves are not the original source of pollution but contribute to worsening the problem by increasing water usage and recycling processes that concentrate pollutants. The region’s agricultural expansion, facilitated by the Port of Morrow and improved transportation infrastructure, led to large-scale farming and food processing operations that generate millions of gallons of wastewater daily. This wastewater, rich in nitrogen compounds from fertilizers and animal waste, is stored in lagoons and then recycled back onto farms, further increasing nitrate levels in the soil