Prophecy Gov's American Sentiment project analyzed 10,202 public comments made at 417 local government meetings across 48 states in 2026, finding 90.5% were negative toward proposed data centers, 7% positive, and 2.5% neutral questions. The site reports that 73% of the 906 tracked meetings had no vocal supporters at all, and even where support existed, opponents outnumbered supporters six to one. Top complaints cited were water use, quality-of-life impacts, and lack of project transparency.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-11-02
A new study assesses sectoral and subsectoral water demand across Africa for 2010 and 2020, covering municipal use, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, electricity production and mining. The researchers measure water withdrawal rather than water consumption, and compute most sectors at a 5 arc-minute grid resolution, with municipal and industrial demand calculated at a finer 2.5 arc-minute resolution.
nature.com
· 2026-10-28
Data Center Watch, a research initiative from 10a Labs, reports that 45 large-scale data center projects worth $68 billion were blocked or delayed in the second quarter due to community pushback. The group tracked 843 opposition groups across 49 states, with only Hawaii lacking any organized resistance, and noted 30 state legislatures have introduced or passed measures on data center siting, power and water use.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-22
The European Commission has proposed requiring data centers with over 500 kW capacity to disclose their energy and water usage through a standardized rating system, similar to appliance energy labels. The rules would not cap power or water consumption but would require operators to report water use relative to local water stress and disclose whether they recycle waste heat back into local energy systems.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-21
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of seven bills that shield residential utility customers from bearing the costs of AI data center growth. The laws create a new rate category for data centers through the state's Public Utilities Commission, mandate disclosure of water and energy use to local governments, and require efficiency benchmarks before facilities can get streamlined approval.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-21
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