Assessing environmental justice impacts of California data centre water use

Data centres’ effects on water supply and local populations is a rapidly evolving research topic, and one that must be understood to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goal of clean water and sanitation.

In this project, SEI and UC Davis co-developed an analysis framework based on geospatial data that helps determine how data centres across California affect water availability in the surrounding areas and what populations they affect most. Together, they combined this geospatial data with the US Center for Disease Control’s Social Vulnerability Index, which captures 16 variables including socioeconomic and racial and ethnic minority status, to determine whether these communities’ water security was disproportionately affected by nearby data centres.

The team will use the geospatial data and informational interviews to develop policy insights and recommendations that can guide land use zoning, environmental impact assessment and permitting, water utility pricing and more.