Google's South Carolina Groundwater Battle a Sign of Things to Come

"Water wars" are erupting in South Carolina, according to an article by Bo Petersen, exacerbated by large water withdrawals by companies like Google.

"Forty million gallons of surface water per day now are pumped to customers by the Berkeley Water and Sanitation utility," according to Petersen. "Google, the marquee computer network company, apparently uses one-tenth of it — about 4 million gallons — to cool the servers at its only South Carolina data center, in Goose Creek."

A planned expansion of the server facility would require even more water—1.5 million gallons a day from a coastal aquifer. If permitted, Google would become the third largest aquifer user in the three-county Charleston region.

Opponents of Google's plan for the aquifer include local residents, water utility officials, and conservationists. How the battle plays out could set a precedent for the growing region that is only beginning to come to the grips with the environmental consequences of its growth. The article dives into the situation in South Carolina in detail, referencing similar situations in nearby states. South Carolina and other nearby states are "tightening regulations surrounding surface water withdrawal," according to Petersen, in response to decades of intermittent drought, warming temperatures, and growing residential and commercial demands.