19119_Authority_April_2026

municipalauthorities.org │ 5 A D ata C enter C ould B e C oming to Y our C ommunity Here’s Six Steps to Help You Assess Risk and Prepare to Serve Its Needs By Matthew D. Cichy, P.E., and Ryan Killen, HRG We’re in the midst of a data revolution, and the revolution is thirsty. There’s rarely a moment of our day that isn’t touched by digital technology: from the alarm on your cell phone that wakes you in the morning (by connecting to cellular and GPS networks), to the cloud you use to access your work files from any location, to the appliances in your kitchen where you grab a snack before bed. Your utility is no doubt investing in technology, too, like AI and machine learning, smart meters, network monitoring, SCADA enhancements, and more. This technology helps you make smarter decisions and operate more efficiently, but it requires a lot of processing power. Massive amounts of data must be processed, stored, and distributed every day to power our utilities and our lives. This is why data center construction is on the rise : Pennsylvania Data Center Proposals found on page 21, a citizen-run website tracking data center construction in Pennsylvania using public records, company announcements, and local news, cites more than 50 proposed centers in communities across the commonwealth. Your community could be next. For water and wastewater utilities, data centers are not just another large customer. They present unique and potentially volatile operational, regulatory, and financial risks. Capital and compliance costs are often long lived and unavoidable, while data center demand can be seasonal, intermittent, delayed, or never fully realized. If these risks are not identified and addressed early, utilities can be left with stranded infrastructure, unrecovered costs, and pressure to shift those costs onto existing ratepayers. Data centers can significantly affect water and wastewater permits, trigger infrastructure upgrades, and increase operating and monitoring costs. Standard service agreements are rarely sufficient to protect a utility from these exposures. Here’s a step- by-step process designed to help utilities evaluate risk, align internal decision making, and structure service in a way that is technically sound, financially defensible, and fair to existing customers. Step 1 – Gather information from the developer to fully understand their needs. Data centers generate a lot of heat from servers. Many facilities use potable water based cooling systems because they are energy efficient and scalable. These systems are designed to recycle water many times before any is discharged. Depending upon the water quality and mineral content, data center cooling water can typically be reused two to six times. Cycles of concentration describe how many times cooling water has been reused in an evaporative system (like a cooling tower) before some of it is discharged. You need to know the demand this data center will put on your system, how that demand might fluctuate over time, and whether the facility could grow or expand later. Water utilities should require a detailed water use breakdown (not just a peak gallon per day number) because demand can vary widely. You’ll want estimates of an average day vs a max day, peak hour consumption, emergency needs, and seasonal variability. Consideration should also be given to whether the