HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Jillian Bianchini TestimonyFrom: Jill Bianchini
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Testimony on data center in Hawaii
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 4:14:15 PM
Attachments: Data center .pdf
Sent from my iPhone
Hawai’i vs Data center
Big island can’t sustain a data center. We are limited to the resources that we already
have. There is a housing crisis in the state of Hawai’i. A data center takes up to 130
million gallons of water a year, that's approximately 3 hospitals, 100 acres of almond
trees and over 100 million gallons of drinking water. This also is equivalent to powering
190 million new homes of electricity. In Hawaii, fresh water comes from delicate
underground volcanic aquifers. This groundwater directly feeds the streams (ʻauwai)
that sustain native ecosystems and traditional taro farming. Sucking millions of gallons
of fresh water from these aquifers threatens local water security, lowers stream flows,
and directly harms cultural and agricultural water rights. If a data center relies on ocean
water for cooling (a method being explored globally to save fresh water), returning that
heated water into Hawaii's pristine, shallow coastal areas would be devastating. Data
centers require massive amounts of electricity to run. Hawaii's electric grids are
completely isolated on each island and already face high energy costs and stability
challenges. Forcing the grid to power a data center could drive up electricity rates for
residents and potentially force utility companies to burn more fossil fuels, worsening air
and water pollution.
AI data centers in Texas used 463 million gallons of water in just two years, while
many Texans face drought restrictions, and are urged to conserve water, these high
tech facilities continue to use large quantities, primarily to cool servers that operate
around the clock. “These centers are showing up in places that are very water-
stressed,” said Margaret Cook (Vice President of water and community resilience at the
Houston advanced research center.(HARC)). Virginia has one of the largest global data
centers, data centers in Virginia create significant drawbacks for local communities,
including skyrocketing electricity bills, massive water consumption, and disruptive noise
pollution. A single large data center can consume up to 5 millions gallons of water
everyday for cooling systems, threatening local water supplies, the facilities rely on rows
of heavy backup diesel generators that emit chronic air pollution and health risks. The
continued proliferation of data centers in the commonwealth will derail critical climate
goals and efforts to improve air and water quality, advance land conservation and
protect national and state parks. Data centers consume more than 20 times as much
electricity as Adams country itself, 5 million gallons of water daily is equivalent to the
water use of a town of 10,000 to 50,000. The same evidence goes for Ohio, California,
Illinois and Georgia.
Sincerely, Jillian Bianchini