Data Centers – Data And Problems

I have been following and reading the present research of “Artificial Intelligence” / AI Computer Data centers. Reading the Friends of Earth, and several of their environmental scientists’ articles. The typical smaller “AI Computer” Data Centers use 300,000 gallons of water day! These so-called larger “hyperscale” Data Centers consume up to five million gallons a day! Scientists and the United Nations now state: we are in a “water crisis” – what they call “global water bankruptcy” due to severe droughts and climate change. Seventy-five percent of the global population is losing their water! Which impacts our health and the health of the planet! We must do everything we can to keep water for our clean drinking water and not for AI Computer Data Centers, that are constantly overheating due to lack of cooling stations, which would use even more water and more electricity! Many studies have been done, and more continue to be published. Recent updated information is available from banthebots.com regarding their overuse of electricity. A single, large AI Data Center can draw 100 MW to 1 GW of power continuously according to techplustrends.com. Converting this to daily consumption: For a 100-MW facility: 100 MW × 24 hours =2,400 MWh per day, and for a 1-GW facility: 1,000 MW × 24 hours =24,000 MWh per day. Most of this electricity powers computer hardware (GPUs and cooling systems), as AI workloads generate substantial heat. Scaling to a 50,000-GPU cluster can reach 35 MW, equivalent to the electricity use of a small city! Training large AI models is extremely energy-intensive. Training a single large language model can consume 50 GWh, equivalent to powering a city like San Francisco for three days! Data Center demand has already pushed wholesale electricity prices two-to-six percent higher nationwide, with much larger spikes in concentrated areas. In some high-density states, residential bills have risen 12-20% in recent years, far above the national average. State and local examples: Virginia: 2025 saw about a 13% bill increase, Washington, D.C., Pepco customers saw a $21/month rise in June 2025, with half tied to price spikes from Data Centers. Ohio: 2025 bills rose about 12% New Jersey: 20% bill increases in 2025, with new legislation requiring large Data Centers (50 MW+) to carry full infrastructure costs! AI Computer Data Centers are contributing to higher electricity costs in Massachusetts. Data Centers are a significant driver of higher electricity prices in high-demand areas. AWS Westborough Data Center – Worcester, MA, developer: Amazon. AWS Grafton Data Center – Worcester, MA, developer: Amazon. Other locations, so far, listed 11 facilities, include Boston, Needham, Waltham, and two planned for Worcester, and others. For more detailed info, there are several websites: Friends of the Earth, No Bots dot com, US data map dot com, and others. At this present time, “AI Computer” Data Centers are permitted in industrial and commercial zones. We – all human beings, and animals, species, plants, gardens, flowers, even the insects – cannot live, survive without clean air, clean water and oxygen! Even bees and butterflies drink and need water! They come to my humming bird feeder and drink the water. Please consider a ten-year and, eventually, a one-hundred-year moratorium for Norwood! Looking forward to reading more updated information about this moratorium idea, and the public commentary, "Letters to the Editor" from The Norwood Record! Thank you for your time and great articles! Sincerely, Mary E. Nagins Weld Ave, District 6

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