By admin 
Thirsty South Carolina data centers may need to begin reporting how much water they use to cool down their computer servers, under a policy included in the state’s unsettled budget this year.
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There aren’t any statewide rules for data centers yet, though utilities and counties have passed their own policies for the warehouses used to power digital services and artificial intelligence.
A proposed budget item would require some data centers to tell the state how much water they used in the last year. The policy made it into a deal struck by budget negotiators this month.
The budget still needs approval from the House and Senate, which are both scheduled to meet again Aug. 11. Gov. Henry McMaster will also need to sign the bill, and not strike the proposed data center reporting requirement, for it to go into effect.
Data centers often use water to cool their computer servers. Some skeptics worry thirsty data centers could drain the state’s water supply.
The one-year budget item requires any South Carolina data center consuming more than 3 million gallons of water monthly to report its usage and sources to the state by Jan. 31. Any company reporting late, or inaccurate water usage, could be subject to fines imposed by the state Department of Environmental Services, according to the budget proviso.
The reports will be made public.
The rule will give South Carolina lawmakers facts, rather than speculation, about how much ground and surface water data centers use, said state Sen. Allen Blackmon, R-Lancaster. Blackmon proposed the budget item, and a twin bill. It’s unclear how much water data centers in South Carolina currently use.
The reports are due near the start of the legislative session, giving the General Assembly time to use the facts to inform new policies for data centers. Blackmon said some constituents told him the water reporting didn’t stop overconsumption.
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But, “it gives us a true, factual basis to tell them they need to dial down their consumption, and they need to redesign these plants so they won’t use so much water,” said Blackmon in response to those concerns from home.
The water reporting budget item has made it further than any other data center policies in the South Carolina legislature this year. Despite public outcry, the General Assembly struggled to pass new policies for data centers, though several lawmakers said they wanted to place guardrails on the warehouses without discouraging development.
Some South Carolinians are skeptical of new data centers in their communities, citing fears that the infrastructure could raise energy bills, use too much water or create noise pollution. But others say the warehouses are essential to power modern digital services and can bring in additional local revenue, even when the projects receive tax breaks. Concerns led some counties to pump the brakes on data center development by imposing monthslong moratoriums.
Two Senate plans to regulate where a data center can locate didn’t pass out of the upper chamber this year. A moratorium proposed by several House representatives also never moved.
Other proposed one-year rules also didn’t make it into the Senate’s budget or the final deal. For example, a ban on some state incentives for data centers, passed by the Senate, was not ultimately included.
Blackmon said he hopes other rules for data centers will make progress in South Carolina next year.
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