When AI Comes to Town

A plain-English guide to what data centers could mean for power, water, infrastructure and the communities that may one day host them.

[ READ WHEN AI COMES TO TOWN HERE. ]

The Story Is Already Being Told. We Think the Facts Should Be Part of It.

Data centers have become one of the loudest infrastructure debates in America.

People are hearing that they will drain local water supplies, overwhelm the electric grid, raise utility bills, change neighborhoods and bring too few jobs to justify the cost. Others see billions of dollars in investment, new infrastructure, construction work, innovation and an industry that is becoming increasingly important to medicine, science, national security and the U.S. economy.

There is truth on both sides of that conversation.

There is also a lot of missing context.

The biggest problem may be that the words data center can describe almost anything from a secured computer room inside a hospital to a multibuilding AI campus seeking hundreds of megawatts of electricity. Those projects may share a name and almost nothing else.

That is why Modern Electric Water Company created When AI Comes to Town.

Not to tell the community what to think. To give people enough information to decide for themselves.

Why Modern?

Modern has an unusual view of this issue.

We provide both electricity and water, the two resources at the center of nearly every major data center debate. We understand what it takes to deliver power reliably, protect a drinking-water supply, build infrastructure and make sure existing customers are not left paying for costs created by someone else.

But we are also different from many of the voices in this debate.

Modern is a consumer-owned, locally governed utility created in 1905 by the people of Spokane Valley. We do not have investors. Our Board of Directors is locally elected, and our job is to provide safe, reliable and affordable electric and water service to the community we serve.

We are not a data center developer.

We do not decide where a data center may be built.

And we are not asking anyone to support or oppose one.

Our interest is much simpler: If this conversation comes to our community, we want people to understand it.

That means understanding the opportunities and the risks.

Neutral Doesn't Mean Indifferent

Modern has responsibilities. If a very large customer asks us for electric or water service someday, we will have to determine whether that service can be provided safely, reliably and responsibly. That decision would depend on engineering studies, available resources, infrastructure, rates, contracts and applicable law.

But this report does not prejudge that decision.

It does not establish Modern's position on any specific data center proposal or future request for electric or water service. It also does not speak for cities, counties, other utilities, water providers or regulatory agencies that control other pieces of a development proposal.

This is an educational resource.

The goal is to make a complicated subject understandable enough that policymakers, utilities, community leaders and residents can ask better questions before important decisions have already been made.

What You'll Find in the Report

• What a data center actually is: And why the term itself can be misleading.
• Not all data centers are created equal: From a locked computer room to a hyperscale AI campus.
• Why data centers matter: Banking, medicine, science, business, government, AI and national security.
• Can the grid keep up? Power supply, transmission, substations, reliability and who pays.
• Where will the water come from? Cooling systems, groundwater, reclaimed water and the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.
• When a data center becomes a neighbor: Noise, construction, backup generation, land use and emergency services.
• What remains after the cranes leave: Jobs, taxes, infrastructure and what makes a lasting community benefit.
• What other communities wish they had known: Lessons from places that faced these questions first.

The question isn't simply whether data centers are good or bad.

The better question is: What exactly is being proposed, what would it require, who carries the risk and what would the community receive in return?

That is very consistent with the report's conclusion that treating every project as either an automatic windfall or an automatic burden misses the careful evaluation communities actually need.

DID YOU KNOW?

AI didn't invent data centers.

Data centers have quietly supported banking, medical records, payroll, weather forecasting, government operations and the internet for decades.

AI did make some of them enormous.

4.4% → as much as 12%

Data centers used approximately 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates they could account for 6.7% to 12% by 2028.

The water answer can vary by more than 10,000×

Researchers found that the water consumed to perform the same computing workload can vary by more than 10,000-fold, depending on cooling technology, climate, server efficiency, operations and the electricity supply.

Which is why asking, “How much water do data centers use?” rarely produces a useful answer.

The better question is: How much would this data center use, and where would the water come from?

Recycled water isn't magic.

Quincy, Washington, built a system that now offsets about 138 million gallons of water demand each year at Microsoft's campus.

But getting there required a $31 million system, 10 treatment systems, more than 30 miles of pipe and more than a decade of work.

Solutions exist. But they still require engineering, infrastructure and someone to pay for them.

A zoning vote can't summon 500 megawatts.

A city can decide whether a project may be built on a piece of land.

The electric utility still has to determine whether the power can actually be delivered, what must be built, how long it will take and who will pay.

Land-use approval is not the same thing as electric capacity.

Why Study and Prepare Before a Proposal Arrives?

Because once a major application arrives, the clock starts.

Neighbors take sides. Developers have deadlines. Elected officials are asked for answers. Utilities begin engineering work. Lawyers become involved. Public meetings fill up.

And suddenly everybody is trying to learn the subject at the same time they are being asked to make decisions about it.

Other communities rewrote utility rates after financial risks appeared, changed zoning codes after campuses multiplied and developed new water systems after existing infrastructure encountered problems.

The Spokane region has something those communities did not always have:

Time.

Learning now does not commit anyone to saying yes. It doesn't commit anyone to saying no.

It gives us the ability to give an informed answer when the question actually arrives.

About Modern Electric Water Company

Modern Electric Water Company has served Spokane Valley since 1905.

The company was created when residents built their own electric and water utility after larger utilities saw too little profit in serving the young community. More than a century later, Modern remains consumer-owned and locally governed, providing electric and water service to as many as 27,000 people.

That history matters.

Modern exists to serve the community, not outside investors.

And because the company provides both electric and water service, it brings a practical perspective to two of the resources most often discussed when a major data center is proposed.

About the Author

Chelsea Martin is Modern Electric Water Company's Director of Government Relations and Communications.

Her career has largely revolved around one thing: taking complicated public issues and making them understandable.

Before entering public power, she spent more than a decade in journalism as a reporter, editor and producer covering government, Congress, the White House and national public-policy debates. She later worked in the California State Senate before bringing that journalism and policy experience to the Pacific Northwest utility industry. She holds a Master of Public Policy and a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Cutting through jargon. Asking the questions that matter. Giving people the information they need to make sound decisions.

That is the spirit behind this report.

Ready to Go Beyond the Headlines?

Read the full report and decide for yourself.

[ READ WHEN AI COMES TO TOWN HERE. ]

When AI Comes to Town is an educational resource prepared by Modern Electric Water Company. It does not establish Modern's position on any specific data center proposal or future request for utility service.