The Indianapolis Star recently published a two-part series of centerpiece stories, written by three students in the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy, about the water and power needs of Indiana data centers.
In Part 1 of Data Dominion, Redmond Bernhold, Andy Caron and Alyssa Sirichoktanasup found that secrecy around the water use of a massive data center near South Bend led to consistently incorrect media reports and a confused local public. While the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center would use less water than some reports claimed, the overall stress on the water aquifer supplying the region was higher than being reported.
The student investigative team found that the actual peak stress on the Kankakee Aquifer could be up to 35.5 million gallons a day, or 80 percent of the aquifer’s safe yield. Local development officials and politicians backing the project have publicized that they will cap local water use at 24 million gallons per day, but that cap does not include irrigation use that also tops out during the hot summer times when the data center would use the most water.
Residents living near the New Carlisle AWS data center fear that the huge company, as well as state and local officials trying to lure jobs and economic development, will prioritize profits over public interest. This fear is exemplified by how more than a dozen residents were treated when their wells went dry after Amazon began construction.
Patsy Bode had to sell her home of 26 years at a loss after her well went dry just months after Amazon began building data centers nearby. She couldn’t afford the $7,000 price tag for a deeper well and endured 18 months without running water. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources determined that a drought, rather than nearby construction, caused her well to go dry. The DNR did not produce a written report, as local media reported.
Alan Hamlet, a hydrology expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences at Notre Dame, said he had doubts about whether drought caused the dry wells. He also said that using 80 percent of the aquifer’s replenishable water supply was dangerous because it did not account for prolonged droughts.
In Part 2, the students examined the enormous power needs of the AWS data center in New Carlisle. When completed, its peak power demand of 2.25 gigawatts would be equal to half of the state’s residential households. To produce that much energy, the regional electric utility will have to triple its power production to an amount greater than the country of Ireland in 2024.
The stories detailed the massive size of this hyperscale data center, which encompasses 32 buildings the size of a Walmart superstore on about 1,200 acres of former farmland. When announced at $11 billion in 2024, it was the largest private investment in Indiana history, and then it grew by another $15 billion the next year.
The state of Indiana and local political entities granted Amazon generous tax breaks because the construction and presence of the data center bring more jobs and tax revenue to the region. But local residents have begun to push back, objecting to the project’s power and water use, as well as the way it has disrupted the rural lifestyle they valued.
One example is local resident Bob Humbarger, who said the data center has increased traffic and light and noise pollution at his rural home. He also has seen his electricity rates rise. At a packed and prolonged meeting in December, the South Bend city council rejected a zoning change needed for a second hyperscale data center in New Carlisle, citing concerns about the still-developing impact of the AWS project.
Economic development officials backing the project say that a utility rate case this summer could lead to lower electric bills for local residents because Amazon and other large power users have made investments to improve the regional energy grid. Citizens like Humbarger, as well as public advocacy groups like Citizens Action Coalition, are not convinced that Amazon’s presence will benefit local residents, who also worry about its environmental impact.
The Notre Dame students set out to navigate this politically divided issue in a neutral and objective way. In the Investigative Journalism class taught by Brendan O’Shaughnessy, students start with data analysis to identify trends that warrant further analysis. They conduct background research on what’s already been written about the topic. They interview affected people, experts, and those with the power to control or fix whatever problem is under investigation. The final product is two front-page stories in the state’s paper of record. This is the fourth year in a row that the Indianapolis Star has published stories from the class.