Spanberger encourages water conservation during drought, while data centers use millions of gallons a day 25JUN26

GOING into our second year of drought there is no justification for mandated water use restrictions and / or increasing water and sewage fees for Virginia residential customers while Virginia data centers are using on average four ( 4 ) million gallons of water daily. Too much of the additional strain on utilities from data centers has been imposed on Virginia's citizens, who's water and electric bills haven't increased with the increase in data centers in our Commonwealth? Corporations paid for enough votes in our legislature in Richmond, with the blatant support of Gov spangerger ( at what price one wonders ), for the tax break on equipment for data centers to be extended. Since they have this tax break mandate the older data centers should spend the money to switch their cooling systems from fresh drinking water to reclaimed water or pay higher fees for the fresh drinking water they use. Depending on the state of the drought as the year progresses and data center cooling needs some of them may have to shut down some servers ( server brownout ) to reduce the amount of water they use. Remember, Virginia is a Commonwealth NOT a corporatewealth, and we the people have reached our limit on our elected officials kow-towing to bezos, zuckerberg, musk and the rest of their lot. Thankfully spanberger can't run for re-election, but the Virginia Assembly would do well to remember this. From ABC8 WRIC.....

 Spanberger encourages water conservation during drought, while data centers use millions of gallons a day

by: Allison Williams

Posted: Jun 25, 2026 / 06:03 PM EDT

Updated: Jun 25, 2026 / 06:03 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Most of the Commonwealth is under a drought warning, and Governor Abigail Spanberger has encouraged residents to conserve water where they can. But with Virginia being the data center capital of the world, the amount of water used to keep them running is raising eyebrows.

According to the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, a Virginia data center uses an average of four million gallons of water a day. The average person uses around 90 gallons a day, so it can be frustrating to hear politicians asking you to cut down on showers or watering the lawn when the data center next door is using much more.

The machines at data centers create a lot of heat and run 24/7 so the water is used to keep equipment cool. 

Ron Murchek, an Executive General Adjuster with Sedgwick and data center expert, said companies predominantly use fresh drinking water at their data center, but newer ones are starting to use what’s called reclaimed water.

“Maybe water that they have captured in nearby ponds, rainwater they’ve captured from their own property, their roofs,” Murchek said. “They’re really using a lot of reclaimed water for sewage treatment plants.”

The hope is this water can be used up to five times before it evaporates.

But the problem is older centers that use fresh drinking water would have to pay an unappealing price to switch to the more environmentally friendly option. 

“A lot of that really comes down to just dollars and cents,” he said. “If the building wasn’t constructed to use renewable sources, there’s significant costs involved to move to that type of a repurpose of the water.”

Murchek said it’s time for companies to make it more of a priority.  

“There’s a lot of planning that has to change,” he said. “We can no longer just look at the sky for a storm. We really need to look at our resource availability. These data centers need to remain reliable neighbors to everyone in Virginia. Sustainability, disaster recovery must go hand in hand.”

Spanberger backs House budget as shutdown deadline looms over data center tax fight 15JUN26

 GOV spanberger shows who she is representing in Richmond and it isn't the people. She is pressuring the Virginia Senate to accept the Virginia House budget that keeps the tax breaks for data centers and is warning of a possible government shutdown if the senate doesn't give in to her demands. This sounds like a tax plan and threat NOT MY pres drumpf/trump and the congressional gop / greed over people-republican party would support ( remember the bbb anyone? ). Please contact your Commonwealth delegate and senator by phone and / or e mail and tell them to actively oppose continuing the data center tax break for the billionaires and mega millionaires who do not live anywhere near these monstrosities. E mail and / or call Gov spanberger and express your opposition to her support for the data center tax break. And join the Ashburn Village Residents & Friends Against Data Center Development and Crew, Afton and, Falmouth Neighborhood facebook pages. This from WTVR CBS 6 in Richmond, VA.....

Spanberger backs House budget as shutdown deadline looms over data center tax fight

By: WTVR CBS 6 Web Staff

Posted 6:20 PM, Jun 15, 2026

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she supports the House of Delegates' proposed budget as state lawmakers race to avoid a government shutdown before the July 1 deadline.

Legislators are set to meet Tuesday to review their proposed budgets, and the House could vote as early as Thursday. But a major obstacle remains: the Senate Finance chair is insisting that a billion-dollar sales and use tax exemption for data center operators must end — a position that puts the Senate at odds with the House proposal.

The governor said her team has not had a substantive discussion on what Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) might present as a counter proposal. On Friday, Lucas posted a graduated tax proposal for data centers on social media but has not presented that plan to the governor's team.

As recently as Sunday, Lucas was adamant that the companies behind the data centers would pay what she called their fair share.

"They keep saying to us, 'well, if we don't get that sales and use tax exemption in Virginia, we're gonna go someplace else.' Well, Senator Locke just laid it out for you: all the other states are saying, 'no, we don't want them' and if we get them, we're going to make sure that we modify how we do these use and sales tax exemptions," Lucas said.

Spanberger reiterated her support for the House version of the budget.

"In the absence of any counter proposal or any additional budget language coming from the Senate, I continue to remain supportive of the House of Delegates proposed conference report, because it's thorough, it's thoughtful, it addresses priorities across the board," she said.

She added that if it were brought to a vote, there is broad support for the measure.

"If it were brought to a vote, certainly there's many members ... of the state Senate whose budget priorities are also in that conference report," she said.

The timeline is tight. While House of Delegates members return Thursday, Senate members do not convene until next Monday. Under legislative rules, an agreed-upon budget must be on legislators' desks 48 hours before a vote can be taken. If a budget agreement is not ready by the close of business Tuesday, the House will not be voting on Thursday.

Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting; AI Data Centers & Our Communities, an initiative by Erin

ERIN Brockovich, environmental activist and advocate, created the Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting website as an FYI  resource for those who have questions about what impact data centers may have on their communities. Check it out and share with everyone who may be interested and also send updates and questions to the site through the links on the site.