Will CR hold new Google data site accountable for use of vital resources?

The Friday, March 29 Gazette had three separate, distinct articles that were related, although not at first glance. The front-page story of the completion of the floodgate at 12th Avenue; the 750,000 fish kill in southwest Iowa; and the editorial regarding Google’s $576 million dollar data center in Cedar Rapids.

How are these all related? Water! The 12th Avenue floodgate will protect Cedar Rapids from flooding as development upstream, along with abandonment of ‘planned buffers’ to absorb rainfall, has increased flood risk downstream. Now a big investment win for Cedar Rapids, the Google data center comes with the city’s gift of reduced water discharge rates. The data center at first glance appears as a huge windfall by the city, attracting a major investment.

But it must be realized that large tech companies’ footprint drains water supplies and availability at alarming rates. Look no further than Microsoft’s Open AI complex in Goodyear, AZ that is projected to gulp 56 million gallons of water per year. This is the equivalent water supply to fulfill 700 families’ needs. Linn County, as of 2024, still is considered to be in an ‘Extreme Drought’ as per Drought.gov (https://www.drought.gov/states/iowa/county/linn). Similarly, Arizona’s Lake Mead and Lake Powell are also at historically low levels.

Does the city have a plan to address and monitor water usage of one large company that potentially could negatively affect every resident in the city? We cannot afford to take our natural resources for granted!

Tom Pyron

Cedar Rapids