The “Stop Data Centers in Durham” coalition, made up of Clean Water for North Carolina, Sound Rivers, the NC Budget and Tax Center, among other community organizations, brought together county residents and workers on October 21 to demand a two-year statewide moratorium on the construction of new data centers and the expansion of existing ones.
“We urge our North Carolina legislators, the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission, and Governor Josh Stein to use their powers to implement a two-year moratorium,” said Steph Gans, executive director of Clean Water for North Carolina, during the press conference.
The coalition argues that the moratorium would give authorities two years to pass regulations aimed at protecting water, air, land and jobs from the impact that, according to the organizers, data centers could have.
“The goal is to have the necessary time to protect our communities, establish regulations that cover our water supply, our electricity bills, and our jobs, and ensure that data centers give back to the community more than they take from it,” Gans explained to Enlace Latino NC.
However, they are not alone. The demand for a moratorium has also found support in other communities in North Carolina.
These include Vance, Richmond, Forsyth, Asheville, and Chatham counties. According to Gans, Durham is the fourth community in the state to join the call.
The growth of data centers clashes with water scarcity
Sam Kropp, guardian of the Noose River and policy director for the organization Sound Rivers, noted that North Carolina communities are already wondering where their water supply will come from in the future: "Where will we get our drinking water from?" she said.
In the specific case of Durham, Kropp explained that this has been the driest summer on record. In June, Lake Michie, Durham's main source of drinking water, was at 40% capacity, while Little River Reservoir, the other major source, was at 60% capacity.
“It was the first time in history that Durham went directly to a 'stage two' water restriction“Skipping completely 'stage one',” Kropp declared during the press conference.
As of October 12, 2026, the City of Durham's "Stage 2" water restriction still validThe storage levels in their reservoirs are currently at 39,7% and, as of Sunday, October 11, they had an estimated water reserve for 92 days.
Kropp also noted that Durham is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the country, which means that the demand for water resources is also increasing exponentially.
For Kropp, this context frames the debate on data centers; a debate that takes place under the pressure of climate change, drought and population growth.
“Why should we open up our water resources to the growing demand from large water consumers, such as data centers?” Kropp said.
Durham faces an urgent question: how much water can it afford to consume?
A single 100-megawatt data center can consume up to 2 million gallons of water per day, according to Kropp.
Kropp is not the only person expressing these concerns about water consumption. Sanja Whittington, a specialist with Democracy Green, a statewide environmental organization dedicated to community justice, said a Enlace Latino NC that data centers require millions of gallons of water to cool the server climate control systems.
“This can lead to water shortages in your community. It becomes a problem for residents trying to obtain water for their daily lives,” Whittington explained.
To date, Kropp noted, no cooling mechanism for data centers has been identified that does not pose a threat to water resources.
Beyond the quantity of water used, the question also lies in the quality of the water discharged. According to Kropp, even data center cooling systems considered “greener” employ corrosion inhibitors, biocides, heavy metals, and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
“These are all important emerging contaminants that our current wastewater treatment systems are not equipped to completely remove,” Kropp explained.
Whittington also warned about the potential effects of PFAS, persistent chemicals, on human health.
“Many people don’t understand that PFAS are […] known as 'forever chemicals', and that they are highly toxic to humans,” Whittington added.
According to Kropp, a two-year moratorium will allow for the implementation of measures to protect water resources and will demand greater accountability regarding water use, not only in Durham but also in other communities across the state.
Six counties, one shared concern
According to Gans, the state and many local governments have not taken data centers into account in their regulations, zoning, or land-use policies. Therefore, the need for data center regulations extends beyond a single city.
Kropp explained that because watersheds are connected, what happens upstream can affect the water quality of neighboring communities and areas downstream.
This presents a shared challenge for North Carolina: ensuring that data centers take responsibility for treating their discharges and that public water systems have the necessary resources to protect the population.
“These communities face difficulties in regulating and ensuring the protections they need at the local level with regard to their water systems,” Gans said.
For both the "Stop Data Centers in Durham" coalition and community groups and members in the other five counties, a statewide moratorium is necessary.
“A two-year pause would allow for many steps to be taken to stop the damage. This would ensure that any data center established in the future operates more responsibly, giving more back to our communities than it takes away,” Gans added.
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