City of Quincy Saves 260 Million Gallons Originally Designated to Cool Microsoft’s Data Centers

The City of Quincy saved over 260 million gallons of potable water originally reserved for Microsoft’s data centers for cooling.

The city entered a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation and an agreement with the Quincy Irrigation District to find a different water source for the centers.

In June of 2021, the city completed construction on their Re-Use Utility facility, which recycles the water used by the data centers.

The city originally used potable water for the cooling centers, but after the Bureau in the West Canal bought Municipal and Industrial (M&I) water, the city was able to save one-year’s worth of water for their residents.

A majority of data center water is evaporated in the cooling process, further concentrating inorganic materials. If hard water minerals from groundwater wells were used without any processing, it can damage the centers.

The Re-use Utility facility removes the minerals and M&I water make-up what was lost in evaporation and is recycled for cooling.

Water from the data centers will not be discharged into the city’s water supply.

The city is also looking for more water sources due to growing residential and commercial demand, which receives 90 percent of the city’s water supply.