As tech giants like Meta build data centers in the Newton County, GA, area, local wells have been damaged, the cost of municipal water has soared and the county’s water commission may face a shortage of the vital resource. Newton County is east of Atlanta.
The situation has become so dire that Newton County is on track to be in a water deficit by 2030, according to a report last year. If the local water authority cannot upgrade its facilities, residents could be forced to ration water. In the next two years, water rates are set to increase 33 percent, more than the typical 2 percent annual increases, said Blair Northen, the mayor of Mansfield, a town in Newton County.
Wasting our energy, wasting our water. Will we bd a le to afford the necessities of life? Who will protect us?
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Another AI data center sad
Another AI data center sad tale.
Locals Fume as Meta AI Data Center Upends Entire Community
The tiny town of Holly Ridge, Louisiana will soon be home to a massive $27 billion artificial intelligence data center being built by Facebook parent company Meta that, when finished, will be the largest in the world.
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As reported by New Orleans-based public radio station WWNO last week, the nonstop parade of trucks driving through Holly Ridge has led to a 600% increase in vehicle crashes over the last year, including three truck crashes that occurred just outside Holly Ridge Elementary School.
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Local residents Joseph and Robin Williams told WWNO that they’ve noticed their tap water is frequently rust colored since Meta started building the data center, and they say their electricity frequently goes off for hours on end with no warning.
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“We had no voting on it, no community meetings, no nothing,” one local woman told More Perfect Union. “It was done all under the table.”
It could happen anywhere.