Retiree devastated after dream home quickly turns into nightmare: 'This was my perfect spot'

Beverly Morris thought she had found her forever home. Nestled in the quiet, rural area of Mansfield, Georgia, it was the ideal retirement retreat. That was, until a nearby tech development upended everything. 

Just 400 yards from her porch now sits a massive data center owned by Meta. Recently, Morris told the BBC that her well water has become filled with sediment, which she attributes to the data center's construction.

What's happening?

Data centers are spreading across small-town America to support cloud computing and energy-hungry artificial intelligence tools. But many local residents say they are dealing with real impacts. In Morris's case, she says Meta's facility disturbed her private well, filling it with sludge and leaving her to haul buckets of water just to flush a toilet. 

"I'm afraid to drink the water, but I still cook with it, and brush my teeth with it," she told the BBC.

Meta denies responsibility, citing an independent study that found no adverse effects on local groundwater. But for Morris, the disruption feels personal. 

"This was my perfect spot," she said. "But it isn't anymore."

Why are data centers concerning?

Data centers, while essential to modern life, are extremely resource-intensive, especially when it comes to water. Some rely on evaporative cooling systems that can use millions of gallons of water on hot days. Globally, AI-driven data centers are projected to consume 1.7 trillion gallons of water annually by 2027.

In regions like rural Georgia, which are attractive to developers due to their humid climate and access to water, this can come at the expense of local residents. Activists and researchers have raised alarms over sediment runoff, water contamination, and the social equity concerns when major corporations disrupt environments without accountability.

What's being done to make the data industry more sustainable?

Some tech companies, including Meta and Amazon Web Services, say they're investing in long-term water stewardship, from using recycled water to improving watershed health. Amazon has pledged to replenish more water than it uses by 2030 and is funding water projects in the U.S. and abroad. Other tech companies are developing innovative solutions to mitigate their environmental impacts.

Advocacy groups like Flint Riverkeeper are pushing for stricter oversight and accountability in data center construction. They argue that no corporation's bottom line should outweigh a homeowner's own property rights and protections.
People at home can help by using technology like ChatGPT and similar services more sparingly. Consider this: one ChatGPT query uses 10 times more electricity than a Google search — so if more people reserved AI tools for only necessary, complicated tasks, it could make a notable difference.

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