Water plan killed at Elon Musk's massive Memphis data center, billions of gallons now needed

Elon Musk's xAI has halted construction of its proposed on-site water-recycling facility for the Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Fox 13 reported that an engineer for the company told The Daily Memphian the project is "indefinitely paused." 

xAI vowed to use its own wastewater recycling plant to cool its Colossus supercomputer. Using recycled water would mean it would not have to draw fresh water from the Memphis aquifer.

The company offered vague reassurance in a statement, according to Fox 13. 

"xAI is committed to building a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis. This plant will protect billions of gallons of water each year," the company said. "The team is currently prioritizing other more immediate projects at the site, but our plans to build the water plant have not changed."

The Daily Memphian reported that without the plant's completion, xAI, along with the local power provider, could draw billions of gallons of freshwater from the aquifer, which could affect the drinking water supply for local areas. 

Local concerns have heightened officials' awareness of the technology and construction associated with the resource-intensive xAI supercomputer. Community opposition to data centers in general has been on the rise, as awareness of and concern about the massive amount of water required to cool them has grown. 

Residents in areas where the data centers are being built have also expressed health and quality-of-life concerns. Investors in major players like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are also voicing concerns. 

More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) posted about the announcement on the social platform X, alongside another post about locals' opposition to the data center in general. 

"Elon Musk's xAI has now paused its plan to build a wastewater recycling plant to cool its data center in Memphis," they wrote. "The wastewater plant was supposed to let xAI use recycled water to cool the servers instead of drinking water from the region's aquifer." 

Which of these savings plans for rooftop solar panels would be most appealing for you? Save $1,000 this year 💸 Save less this year but $20k in 10 years 💰 Save less in 10 years but $80k in 20 years 🤑 Couldn't pay me to go solar 😒 Click your choice to see results and earn rewards to spend on home upgrades.

"Shut off water to the plant Memphis!" one user commented. 

"Thank you, Memphis!" another said.

Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.