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Iowa's Water Use Program

• State (∃not federal) program.
• Enacted in 1957 via Iowa Legislation.
• In water rights law, Iowa is considered a hybrid between “Riparian” (Eastern U.S.) and Prior Appropriation (Western U.S.) law.
• All waters in Iowa are “public waters and public wealth” of its citizens.
• Use a permit system for anyone using >25,000 gallons of water per day, any single day of the year.

Iowa's Water Use Program

Anyone diverting/withdrawing over 25,000 gallons per day any single day of they year submits an application to the program for review. The program checks the following:

• How much water will be withdrawn (annual and 'instantaneous' rates).
• Where the water will be withdrawn.
• Where and how the water will be used (" Beneficial use of the water to fullest extent possible.)

The Water Use Program reviews

• The beneficial use of the water.
• The effect of withdrawals on the flow of the river.
• The effect of withdrawals on prior water users.

Permit is issued if the conditions listed above are met.

Iowa's Water Use Program

• Water use permits can be completed before, after, or during a well construction (though we prefer they are completed before construction)
• Water use permit applications are typically reviewed within 90 days after a complete permit is received (pump test, groundwater model, test logs, etc.)
• 20 days is for public notice/newspaper/public reaction
• **public notice is now online only, not in the local newspaper!!!
• End result is the draft permit with an associated summary analysis, then the final permit
• Permits are typically good for 10 years (5-Years for Jordan aquifer)
• There is an annual “Stakeholder Meeting”, held in July of each year, for anyone interested in water use in lowa where the program details what occurred in the previous state fiscal year.

Data Centers in Iowa

• 101 currently (according to datacentermap.com)
• Meta (Altoona, Davenport)
• Microsoft (WDM)
• Google (Council Bluffs)

Data Center Cooling

• Until recently, air cooling was the primary cooling mechanism.
• Today, cooling is typically done through a combination of air cooling and liquid cooling systems.

Evaporative cooling systems or direct water-cooled systems:

• Liquid Cooling: Water absorbs heat directly from the servers before being pumped out and cooled down (uses less water).
• Evaporative Cooling: Water is sprayed over cooling pads or used in cooling towers to dissipate heat. As water evaporates, it cools the air or liquid circulating around the servers (uses lots of water – around 80% of the water it takes in).

Differences in Cooling Methods

Liquid-Cooled IT Equipment Rack

Unconventional cooling

Evaporative cooling Air is funneled across web pads or filters; excess heat dissipates in the water; cooler air goes back into the data center.

Rear-door water cooling units Water runs through tubes attached to the rear door of a server rack, removing heat.

Waterborne data center Data center is built on a barge and is cooled from recirculated water from an ocean or other body of water.

EXAMPLE IBM and energy management specialist Schneider Electric are experimenting with self-contained rear-door water cooling units.

EXAMPLE

Immersion cooling via nonconductive fluids

Servers are submerged in nonconductive liquids, using simple chilling or two-phase cooling methods.

EXAMPLE 3M Novec Engineered Fluids; emerging nanofluids.

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Sustainability is savings

• Example parameters
• $0.11 / kWh US, $0.40 / kWh UK
• HPE Cray XD2000 servers
• 64 servers per rack, 10 racks
• Operating 365 days/year, 75% utilization
• 5 years

15% chassis level energy reduction at the rack

5 Year Energy Use Comparison

Example compares air cooled HPE Cray XD2000 Air cooling to DLC Benchmark is SPEChpc 2021, tiny, MPI+OpenMP 64 ranks, 14 threads (est)(per HPE Cray XD2000 chassis) Results shown are estimates based on internal performance testing conducted by HPE in April 2023. Study link.

Groundwater Impacts

• Water use for cooling data centers is often not directly reported to the state's water use program.
• Most are connected to a municipal system (as are many large users these days), with NDAs.
• Municipal systems do not report water use within their system to the state (they have their own rights and authorities)
• Water withdrawal increases due to data centers can be seen in annual reports of water use.
• Power and water efficiencies are sometimes engineered ‘trade secrets’ or part of the marketing of a server/server format.
• Re-use of water has high potential. However, WUP is currently unaware of any re-use, though it could be happening.

Data Center Water and Groundwater Impacts

• Google (Council Bluffs)

• Missouri River and alluvium
• Noted as the highest water use data center in many reports.
• In 2024, Google used 1.4 billion gallons of water (1 billion gallons evaporated)

TOP TEN CUSTOMERS

2023 Rank

1. Google, Inc. (Council Bluffs)
2. Tyson Foods, Inc.
3. ConAgra Frozen Foods
4. Plumrose USA, Inc.
5. City of Council Bluffs
6. MidAmerican Energy
7. Tetra, LLC
8. Bunge Corporation
9. Iowa Western Community College
10. Regional Water

(Council Bluffs Water Works 2024 Annual Report)

RESIDENTIAL VERSUS COMMERCIAL / INDUSTRIAL CONSUMPTION

Data Center Water and Groundwater Impacts

• Microsoft (West Des Moines –
• Raccoon River Alluvium and Jordan
• Currently nearly three of six planned data centers ‘built out’.
• Use has declined, but was 69 million gallons in 2024.

List of Large Water Users December 31, 2024

(West Des Moines Water Works 2024 Annual Report)

Data Center Water and Groundwater Impacts

Annual Water Use for the City of Altoona, Iowa

• Meta (Altoona)

• Fully built out.
• Jordan aquifer
• Use is not published, but has a contract with City of Altoona for “up to 1.0 mgd”.
• Typical use is estimated to be ~500,000 gallons per day on average. (~185 mgy)

Data Center Water Use in 2024 - Estimated

Total Data Center Water Use in 2024 ~2.2 billion gallons

All Active Iowa Water Use Permits

All Active Water Use Permits in SFY 2025 [3,369]

Crop Irrigation [1,578] Animal Feeding Operation [150] Public Water Supply [661] Industrial/Commercial [131] Quarry Operation [322] Recreational Water [117] Golf Course [217] Geothermal [115]

Animal Feeding Operation [150] ☑ Ethanol Production [32] Industrial/Commercial [131] ☑ Power Generation [20] Recreational Water [117] △ Other [25] Geothermal [115]

Water Use in Iowa in Billion Gallons - 2024

Iowa Groundwater

Bedrock Aquifer Systems across Iowa West to East

PW-73 Well Diagram

Iowa's Major Water Sources

• Surface Water
• Rivers, Streams
• Lakes, Ponds, Quarries
• lowa aquifers, from bottom to top:
• Alluvial Aquifer
• Buried Sand and Gravel Aquifer
• Dakota Aquifer
• Mississippiian Aquifer
• Silurian-Devonian Aquifer
• Upper Ordovician Aquifer
• “Jordan” or Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer

“Unconsolidated” aquifers (glaciers and rivers)

Bedrock aquifers (shallow seas)

2024 Groundwater Use by Aquifer in Iowa* (~208 billion gallons)

Visual MODFLOW Flex - [DesMoinesModelCalibrated]

File View Tools Workflow Window Help

dp_top_m landsurface_m watertable_m jordan_ih_m ModelArea NWConstantBoundaryLine SEConstantBoundaryLine JordanKZones DMAreaHistoricUse DMAreaFutureZeroUse2 DMAreaHistoricObservationsClean FuturePumpingNonASR2 FuturePumpingASR2 KPilotPoints

Model Explorer

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Object: DMAreaHistoricUse Set As Default Settings

Groundwater Models - West Des Moines Jordan

• Jordan aquifer potentiometric surface observed and predicted through 2050.

Data Center Water and Groundwater Impacts

• Estimate ~2.2 billion gallons per year used in Iowa for cooling data centers.
• Expected to more than double in near future (data centers currently planned in Van Meter, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Council Bluffs...), as long as we continue to use our phones, laptops, watches, socials, smart tvs, etc.
• Most will be liquid cooled and use municipal water for supply.
• Data Center needs:
• Power
• Water
• Infrastructure
• Space

Water Use Program and Data Centers

• In the 2026 legislative session, a bill proposed “Data centers” as a use category for the water use program to track regardless of having a water use permit. That bill failed to proceed.
• Local Cities, Counties and County Supervisors have contacted the program about what water rights can and should enforce and track with. And what counties can do.

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