In Minnesota and throughout the Midwest, Freshwater is observing tension that has arisen for many of our partners. The question is: How can we support economic development while ensuring water availability to support communities and the environment into the future?
Large water users like data centers, industrial scale agriculture, and beverage companies are eyeing water-rich states in Great Lakes region. State and local governments need to provide guidance for responsible economic development while maintaining a sustainable water supply, and specifically managing groundwater for the long term.
Freshwater thinks there are ways to support large water users by carefully planning for circular water use systems, while reserving groundwater only for applications where no substitutes are available.
Based on our discussions with businesses and water supply professionals, we recommend these first steps to local leaders who are planning for economic development projects.
1. Have early talks with the developers and their engineering firms about water quantity and quality needs for the project.
- What is the least amount of water and minimum quality needed?
- What is the preferred water volume and quality?
- Will the operators be treating the water, or are they expecting the municipality to handle this?
- Will additional treatment capacity be required?
- What are the alternatives to using groundwater?
- Can this be done without a non-disclosure agreement so that the proper consultation with agencies can take place?
- How fast do decisions need to be made?
2. Questions for regional planning authorities:
- Will this require an amendment of the regional water plan(s)?
- How will this impact future scenarios such as cones of depression, along with drilling depth needed for industrial and domestic wells?
3. Questions for an area hydrologist or natural resources department about appropriations:
- Are there private well owners in the area who may be impacted?
- How does pumping affect water quality (e.g. liberating manganese or deleterious elements)?
- What is your current timeline to review a well interference complaint or conduct an environmental study?
4. Ask the developers to describe their water conservation and water efficiency plans.
- Do they have their own water goals like Net Zero or Environmental, Social and Governance goals?
- Can they reuse water internally in a closed loop?
- Can they use ground-source geothermal cooling systems instead of consumptive groundwater use?
- Could they use reclaimed wastewater or stormwater?
5. Ask how alternatives will be considered, beyond cost.
- Could they use LEED or Envision to compare alternatives for triple bottom line impacts? Water costs are low and shouldn’t be the only factor considered.
- Would additional funding help a water reuse or recharge effort move forward?
6. Provide boundaries on water use.
- Does the City or County have goals or ordinances they should meet?
- Review projections from a regional planning authority.
- Review sustainable yield for groundwater or surface water withdrawal with the state, county or local unit of government.
7. Try to co-locate near a complementary industry or land use.
- Would they accept treated industrial water or reclaimed water?
- Is there an existing water discharge nearby?
- Could you attract a business to share a water source, or reuse the discharge from the data center? (Landscape irrigation? Managed aquifer recharge?)
- Is there a public-private partnership opportunity?
8. Consider water reuse, recharge or geothermal to reduce freshwater use.
- Can they add onsite treatment for water reuse? Could an outside party supply treated water to them?
- Could they capture stormwater or rainwater for cooling?
- Is geothermal an option for cooling?
9. Add spare purple pipe (meant to carry recycled water for non-potable use) to the development plans to account for a future water reuse supply.
- If reuse options are pending or long lead, consider adding a spare purple pipe water supply system to connect to in the future.