Concerns Rise Over Oregon Data Centres and Health Risks

Morrow County, Oregon is home to large farmland, agricultural operations and food processing facilities and it is also a home to multiple Amazon data centres. And now, some scientists and experts think that this combination is resulting in an unacceptably high proportion of nitrates in the drinking water, which is increasing cancer and miscarriage rates in the area. 

Rolling Stone’s report highlights that even without using unsafe nitrates in its cooling process, Amazon is accelerating the pollution of the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer, the primary drinking-water source for local residents. Poor wastewater management, sandy soil, and good old physics have all contributed to nitrate concentrations in drinking water as high as 73 ppm (parts per million) in some wells, which is ten times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit.

According to Rolling Stone, “experts say Amazon’s arrival has accelerated this process.” Every year, the data centres draw tens of millions of gallons of water from the aquifer to cool their computer equipment, which is subsequently sent through the Port’s wastewater system.” As a result, more nitrate-contaminated wastewater is pumped onto local fields. However, the porous soil quickly becomes saturated, allowing more nitrates to enter the aquifer.

On a long run this is worsened when Amazon takes up this contaminated water, which is already over federal regulatory limits for nitrates, to cool its data centres. When the contaminated water passes through data centres to absorb heat from server systems, some of it evaporates, but the nitrates stay, increasing concentration. That means that once the toxic and filty water has passed through the data centres and returned to the wastewater system, it is considerably more contaminated, often averaging 56 ppm, which is eight times Oregon’s safety level.

The health Effects has shown that nitrate levels in the area have exceeded the federal safety limit of 10 parts per million (ppm), with some wells reaching 70 ppm. High levels of nitrate in drinking water have been associated to an increase in uncommon malignancies, kidney failure, miscarriages, and “blue baby syndrome” in infants.

In resident accounts, Jim Doherty, a former county commissioner, conducted a survey in which locals reported a number of health difficulties, including 25 miscarriages among 30 homes visited, as well as several occurrences of uncommon types of cancer.

Amazon, of course, denies this claim. A Spokeswoman in person of Lisa Levandowski told Rolling Stone that the narrative was “misleading and inaccurate,” and that “the volume of water its facilities use and return represents only a very small fraction of the overall water system which is adequately not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.” They also argue that the area’s water problems predate their arrival.

Levandowski further stated that the area’s groundwater concerns “significantly predate AWS’ (Amazon Web Services) presence.” However, if Amazon was aware of the area’s difficulties in providing enough safe drinking water for its citizens, it begs the question of why the firm hasn’t done more to reduce its impact, or why it chose Morrow County in the first place.

Nitrate levels in the drinking water have been associated with an increase in uncommon types of cancer and miscarriages. However, attempts to limit future contamination and provide households with safe, clean drinking water have been sluggish to come. The restricted extent of the response, as well as the fact that 40% of the county’s people live in poverty, have prompted analogies to the Flint, Michigan, issue. Kristin Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action (ORA), a water rights advocacy group, told Rolling Stone, “These are people who have no political or economic power, and very little knowledge of the risk.”

The problem has been likened to the Flint, Michigan water disaster because of the disproportionate impact on low-income populations with limited political influence. Local officials have been accused of putting data centre construction before public health concerns.

Water contamination is the main issue, according to investigations from Rolling Stone and the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN). And the publication highlight a major public health and environmental justice concern associated with the rapid expansion of the data centre business in rural areas.