In Oregon, Amazon’s data centers are contaminating the waters, with nitrate levels rising 70%.
Among the population of Oregon, cases of cancer and miscarriages have increased.
Experts interviewed by the magazine point out that the cooling process of the giant technology company’s cloud computing mega-structures has boosted the concentration of toxins in an important local aquifer that supplies drinking water to the population. The company arrived in the area in 2011.
Water loaded with nitrate
The Morrow region has several farms and food processing industries that were already causing water contamination. But the arrival of Amazon’s data centers is said to have contributed to raising the concentration of nitrate used in fertilizers in the Lower Umatilla Basin in an “alarming” manner, according to the publication.
In 1992, the aquifer had an average nitrate concentration of 9.2 parts per million (ppm), a number that rose 46% in 2015, reaching 15.3 ppm;
However, recent measurements indicate that the concentration has already reached 73 ppm in some wells, more than 10 times the limit set by the state of Oregon and seven times the federal limit;
The sandy soil of the region and physics also contribute to the large amount of toxins in the water, along with poor wastewater management;
Using tens of millions of litres of water per year to cool facilities packed with chips and other equipment, the data centers channel the wastewater into the sewage system.
In this way, a greater quantity of nitrate-loaded water has overloaded the local network, which was already struggling with the enormous volume of agricultural runoff. Even the deepest areas of the groundwater table are said to be contaminated, according to the report.
The problems worsen when part of the contaminated water passing through Amazon’s facilities evaporates and the nitrate remains, increasing its concentration. The water returns to the sewage system with more toxins, reaching farms with up to 56 ppm of nitrate, with the porous soil contributing to an increase in toxins.
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