In Morrow County, Oregon, families are living through a crisis. According to a “Rolling Stone” investigation, mothers have suffered miscarriages and neighbors are battling rare cancers. 

Local officials have raised concerns about dangerously elevated nitrate levels in the community’s drinking water following the siting of a nearby Amazon data center. The investigation reports that the facility’s massive water consumption — up to 5 million gallons per day — may have accelerated nitrogen migration into the aquifer faster than natural filtration can occur. Amazon strongly denies any connection between its operations and these health problems. 

Whatever the ultimate cause of the health crisis in Oregon, the broader concern is undeniable: When data centers consume enormous amounts of water, communities can face real risks. Similar pressures are now emerging in Ohio. 

Central Ohio already hosts about 130 data centers, representing more than half the state’s total. In Marysville, just two facilities consume roughly 10% of the city’s entire daily water supply. Amazon operates dozens of data center facilities and campuses across the New Albany, Hilliard and Dublin region. Residents are watching water demand surge as new facilities are proposed. 

Here is what should concern every Ohioan. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a draft General National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit governing wastewater discharges from data center facilities into state waters, including non-contact cooling water, cooling tower blowdown and associated stormwater. The publicly released draft does not specify nitrate limits among the listed regulated pollutants. 

The draft permit also relies on existing antidegradation standards that allow a lowering of water quality when deemed necessary to accommodate important social or economic development. In plain terms, regulators are signaling that some degradation of water quality may be acceptable to support data center growth. 

This is not just about water. Modeling by researchers affiliated with the California Institute of Technology suggests that air pollution associated with data center growth could contribute to about 1,300 premature deaths annually nationwide by 2030, with an estimated public health burden approaching $20 billion. 

But it does not have to be this way. 

We can build data centers today that eliminate operational water consumption entirely — and with the right policy reforms, they can be built at lower total cost than conventional designs. 

The solution is zero-water cooling through immersion systems with dry heat rejection. Instead of water, servers are cooled using specialized dielectric fluids. Instead of evaporative cooling towers, heat is rejected through air-cooled radiators or geothermal systems. In these configurations, operational water use is eliminated. 

Some raise concerns about the safety of dielectric cooling fluids. Modern formulations are engineered to be non-toxic, biodegradable and safe for humans and wildlife. The answer is not avoiding zero-water systems, but requiring the safest available fluids rather than the cheapest. 

Industry representatives argue that zero-water cooling is too expensive. That claim does not withstand scrutiny. 

Multiple industry analyses, pilot deployments and academic studies indicate that zero-water data center systems increase upfront capital costs by roughly 35% to 45%. However, analyses synthesizing findings across these studies suggest that targeted policy and procurement reforms can more than offset those added costs. 

Whatever ultimately caused the health crisis in Oregon, Ohio communities are already feeling the strain of unchecked data center growth. We know how to prevent similar harm. We know it can save money. 

The only remaining question is whether our leaders will act in time — or wait until the damage is done. 

The writer is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.