As plans shape up for Stack Infrastructure's $100 billion investment in the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, a regional river environmental group will have a seat at the table for the discussions.
The project, which would bring 2,500 jobs over a 20-year period, has brought to the surface environmental worries of such a large-scale metamorphosis of nearly 3,000 acres of land.
Since data center developments use water to cool the computers running the operation, the impact on the Dan River is one fear that's bubbling.
However, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission reports that, on average, a data center uses only as much water as a large office building.
There are some that use less than a typical household, a 2024 report on the impact of data centers found.
It's all determined by the size of the building, the number of computers and the style of the cooling system.
Documents related to the Stack project do not detail how many structures will be part of what it calls a digital infrastructure campus due to the scale.
Tiffany Haworth, the executive director of the Dan River Basin Association, told the Register & Bee earlier this month that there is conflicting data in general on data center water usage.
While it's confirmed that the city of Eden, North Carolina, will provide the water from the Dan River, little else is known just yet about how much water will be diverted to the megasite project.
"I don't have a firm grasp on it or a firm confirmation from Stack Infrastructure," Haworth said of the consumption piece.
On Monday, 594.6 million gallons of water were flowing through the Dan River in Danville, according to a calculation of data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Depending on weather conditions, anywhere from 500 million to 1.5 billion gallons move down the river each day as water runs through the city.
To put it in perspective, the city of Danville usually treats about 8 million gallons of water per day for residential and industrial use.
Some concerns of data centers surround a water source drying up.
"The water thing is false," Matt Rowe, the director of economic development for Pittsylvania County, told the Register & Bee last month.
"What I can definitely and definitively say is that any water use from the megasite will be substantially lower than what has historically been used in our region," Rowe said.
Had the site landed a semiconductor plant, the drain would be much higher.
Rowe and Vic Ingram, the chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority, the joint city-county group that owns the megasite, both acknowledge news stories of water issues in some circumstances around the nation have been shared in local social media circles, causing fear.
However, those stories are sometimes years old, and updates and current conditions are never investigated.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's report states that — as a whole — Virginia is "relatively water rich."
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality regulates water withdrawals throughout the state. The sometimes alarmingly high numbers tossed out in permits aren't a daily figure, but what the maximum would be at any given time.
"When states give those permits, they're doing it based upon factual information and data," Rowe explained. "They're saying that that amount of water, in a worst-case scenario, could be pulled out every single day, and it would not have detrimental ecological or social impacts downstream."
If there were even an inkling of concern about the environmental impact of the Stack project, local leaders would never have allowed it to this point.
"We would put a stop to it, and the other thing is, the state would put a stop to it," Rowe said.
"This is honestly going to be one of the least intensive uses you can put up there," Rowe reiterated about the water use at the megasite.
Eden's system — which is about 15 miles away from the megasite — used to handle water for MillerCoors before it closed about 10 years ago, a plant that used more water than a data center.
Decades ago, Dan River Inc.'s sprawling footprint also used more water than a data center, Ingram said previously.
"When it comes to environmental concerns, our primary concern is always protecting the long-term health of the Dan River watershed," Haworth said.
"The big news is, DRBA has been invited to the table to have one-on-one discussions with the property owner," she explained, admitting everything is still in the developmental stages.
Being involved in a project from an environmental perspective is "pretty rare," Haworth said.
"Our philosophy is collaboration and partnership, and being at the table, and so we can ask these important questions," she told the newspaper. "And the fact that we are invited to that table to have access to be asking those questions is a really good thing."
The larger impacts
It's not just the water usage that's a concern. Any development that deals with removing land raises worry.
"Here's something that people don't really think of," she explained.
"It's not necessarily one project," the executive director said. "There are cumulative impacts that can happen within one project, but it's when we're looking at the entire watershed."
She said the cumulative effects on a watershed add up, so impacts have to be viewed from a broader point than just one project in one location.
"We need to be looking at it as a whole and working together across state lines to really determine what is necessary and needed for our region," she said.
The Stack project would use a closed-loop circulation system for cooling, Rowe explained.
Essentially, it's like a radiator in a car.
"Do you fill up your radiator every day?" Rowe questioned. "No, you might fill it up every four or five years."
The process, known as a "blowdown," removes the water and any built-up minerals associated with it, another issue that spawns concerns.
Since it's served by public sewer, any discharge is sent back to the city of Eden to handle.
Rowe said Eden's facility is an industrial-sized treatment plant that once served multiple heavy operations like textile and food and beverage.
"That whole water and wastewater stuff is false," he explained of contaminants getting back into the river.
Working with Stack means the basin group will have access to information and people who are making the decisions, but at the same time, nonprofits are limited in what can be achieved.
"Our primary concern, obviously, is understanding how the water withdrawals and stormwater runoff, land disturbance, stream impacts, habitat changes," Haworth said of the short- and long-term impacts.
The basin group is looking at all of the phases, including construction, to examine ways to make it more environmentally friendly.
Rowe also explained to the newspaper — and during a community session in April — that a large water user is needed, given the infrastructure at the megasite.
The "last thing" leaders want is a user sending only 200,000 gallons of water a day through a 20-inch pipe.
"That ain't gonna work, because then what you're having to do is flush the line out, you're having to flush the water tank out and you're just sitting there wasting money and water," Rowe said. "The megasite was designed for heavy infrastructure users."
A source of economic development
The association isn't against economic development, but believes it needs to be compatible with the natural resources.
"Our founders believed that our natural resources were a source of economic development for tourism and protecting them would actually help build the economies of our region," she said.
Nearly all parts of Virginia are experiencing a drought, which raises concerns for an industry that uses water.
Haworth also pointed to past textile operations that did not follow environmental standards. Those standards are more strictly enforced today.
"We do encourage new or existing businesses who are looking at development to invest in the communities that they are impacted through other ways," Haworth explained.
That could look like a company funding a new river access or park. The basin group negotiates ways for companies to "make a big impact."
It's similar to when a developer needs to cut down trees to make paper and more trees are planted afterward.
"That same philosophy we hold and we absolutely insist that investment is made to not only make up for the environmental impact, but show their concern and their value for the regions that they are moving into or changing," she said.
