Michigan utility OKs 12-month ban on supplying water for data centers

Ypsilanti’s water system is turning off the tap for data centers. The Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority, or YCUA, approved a 12-month moratorium on supplying water to the resource-hungry facilities Wednesday.

Ypsilanti Township, the community where a $1.2-billion University of Michigan data center is planned, voted last week to request the move.

The YCUA board’s resolution bars the delivery or commitment of water and sewer services to hyperscale and mid-size data centers, artificial intelligence computing facilities, and high-performance computational centers, pending the completion of several environmental and water system studies.

The YCUA supplies drinking water and sewer services to multiple communities in Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo and Ypsilanti Township Trustee Gloria Peterson are both YCUA commissioners.

The utility’s water and sewer capacity is limited, and the utility needs to be proactive about addressing data centers’ water demands, Stumbo said Wednesday.

“Two large data centers could take our capacity just like that,” Stumbo said. Eliminating this capacity could prevent homes from being built or businesses from opening and creating jobs, she said.

YCUA Executive Director Luke Blackburn told Planet Detroit in an email that the utility’s wastewater treatment plant has an estimated excess capacity of 4 to 5 million gallons per day.

YCUA’s last wastewater master plan dates to 2018 and an updated study is needed, Blackburn added.

A University of Michigan official previously told Planet Detroit its Ypsilanti Township data center project could use up to 500,000 gallons of water a day.

The Ypsilanti Township board is opposed to U of M and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plan for a $1.2-billion facility in the community.

Thor Equities’ proposed $1-billion data center in Augusta Township is also within YCUA’s service territory. MLive reported last year that the project could use 1 million gallons of water daily.

U of M and Thor did not respond to requests for comment on the utility’s moratorium.

In an online statement, the university said its project, which it calls a “high-performance computing facility,” will create 200 jobs and support public projects in medicine, climate science, energy, and national security.

A Los Alamos official told The Michigan Daily in January that it would perform nuclear weapons research at the proposed facility.

As a public university, U of M is exempt from local zoning requirements, meaning the project does not require township approval.

Residents say moratorium will protect their communities

Around 10 residents and Ypsilanti City Councilmember Me’Chelle King spoke in support of the moratorium at Wednesday’s YCUA board meeting.

Leah Mills-Chapman, a resident of Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow neighborhood, said the moratorium would help advance racial and environmental justice in an area where people already deal with foul odors and pollution.

The Ypsilanti Township board passed a resolution in August calling for U of M and Los Alamos to relocate the data center project from a site near the Huron River to a location near West Willow.

According to MiEJScreen, Michigan’s environmental justice screening tool, the West Willow neighborhood is in the 85th percentile, while areas to its north are in the 88th percentile. These scores indicate well above-average pollution exposure and sensitive populations.

On March 31, the Ypsilanti Township board passed a resolution opposing the placement of U of M and Los Alamos’ project anywhere in the township.

This resolution called attention to Los Alamos’ work on nuclear weapons research and referred to the facility as a “Tier 1” high value target for terrorists and foreign adversaries.

Augusta Township resident Wendy Albers, who opposes Thor Equities’ plans for a data center in her community, expressed support for the moratorium. The Augusta Township board approved rezoning land for the data center despite strong opposition from the community, she said.

“There’s no one really protecting us and this (moratorium) could be a step to allow our communities to also have time to do their due diligence.”

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This story was originally published by Planet Detroit and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.