The water panel was moderated by Christina Casler of Beale Infrastructure and brought together Sarah Porter of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, Travis Wright, CEM, Vice President of Utility Engagement at QTS Data Centers, Michael Beatty of Nalco Water/Ecolab and Colette Moore of Salt River Project.
One of the strongest points to emerge was that Arizona cannot be treated as a single water market. Water resources, regulations, infrastructure and vulnerabilities vary considerably depending on where a project is located. Porter noted that conditions outside Arizona’s Active Management Areas can be very different from those within the state’s larger metropolitan areas. That makes broad statewide claims difficult to apply to individual projects.
The more useful questions are local:
- What water supply serves this site?
- How secure is it?
- What will the project actually consume?
- What protections already exist?
- What additional standards might a community want to establish?
“Understand what that water resource portfolio is. Talk to your local provider. There are answers.”
Colette Moore of Salt River Project
Moore also identified a communication problem that extends well beyond data centers: “The water folks do a great job talking to each other, not always to other people.” Arizona has deep expertise in water planning, regulation, utility management and conservation. The challenge is getting that knowledge out of technical circles and into the rooms where communities are trying to make decisions.
Jeff Graves of the Town of Florence raised another example during the water discussion: indirect water use associated with electricity generation. “If we’re communicating with the public, it’s very important that we show the whole picture,” he said. That idea reaches well beyond water. Communities want the whole picture on power, economic impact, infrastructure, taxation and long-term commitments too.