Outrage started bubbling up last year when residents of an affluent subdivision named Annelise Park in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed their water pressure was unusually low.

When the county utility investigated, officials discovered two industrial-scale water hookups feeding a data center campus located 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta. One water connection had been installed without the utility’s knowledge, and the other was not linked to the company’s account and therefore wasn’t being billed.

All told, the developer, Quality Technology Services, owed nearly $150,000 for using more than 29 million gallons of unaccounted-for water. That is equivalent to 44 Olympic-size swimming pools and far exceeds the peak limit agreed to during the data center planning process.

The details were revealed in a May 15, 2025 letter from the Fayette County water system to Quality Technology Services, which outlined the retroactive charge of $147,474. The letter did not specify how many months the unpaid bill covered, but when asked about it Wednesday, Vanessa Tigert, the Fayette County water system director, said it was likely about four months. A QTS spokesperson said the timeframe was 9-15 months.

Gregory Pierce, director of the UCLA Water Resources Group, said it’s unusual that the utility didn’t fine the data center for breaking the rules.

“I don’t know exactly what’s happening here, but they probably don’t want to upset one of their new and largest customers,” said Pierce, who is studying the growing grip data centers have on local water systems.

Tigert defended the utility’s decision to not levy a fine.

“They’re our largest customer, and we have to be partners,” she said. “It’s called customer service.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5865826&forum_id=2E#49879685)