Published at: 3/10/2026
Water-intensive data center development is rapidly growing across the Great Lakes region. To help make sense of the impacts, we released this guide for residents, concerned citizens, grassroots organizations, and local leaders seeking clear, accessible information. It describes how water is used in data centers and provides checklists to help communities understand potential impacts and ask the right questions at the right time.
This playbook does not take a position on whether any specific proposed data center is “good” or “bad” for a community. The goal is to ensure that, if data centers move forward, they operate in ways that maximize public benefits while minimizing harm to water resources, community well-being, and ecosystems.