Dakota Mainstem Regional Water System, a coalition of over 50 towns and water providers, will spend $4.2 million over the next two and a half years studying the future water needs of eastern South Dakota and adjoining states. But one East River water expert says data centers may not be main drivers of increased water consumption:
Jay Gilbertson, manager of East Dakota Water Development, said future development of Sioux Falls and local communities needs to see an increase in the water supply because modern systems won’t be able to handle the supply long-term.
“One big plant can use one million gallons a day, which is roughly equivalent to the demand of 4,300 households,” he said.
Gilbertson said that future development projects like processing plants, big industrial factories, and possibly data centers would require water usage. However, Gilbertson said specific data center proposals in eastern South Dakota would take up very little water. “The data centers that have been proposed have very low water consumption, and they aren’t the reason the study is going forward” [Quinn Gienapp, “Dakota Mainstem Not Waiting for a Water ‘Crisis’,” KELO-TV, 2026.07.30].
Data centers may even use less water than the same amount of land occupied by irrigated cropland:
Ann Gravatt and Jesse Gronner shook hands, offered food and fielded questions from people around the region curious or skeptical about the Oregon-based company’s plans to build a data center. Locals shuffled around the room to learn about what this project entails. Some with arms crossed to send a clear signal about their skepticism.
It will take a lot of water. To be specific, the company Triple Oak Power told local authorities it would take 600 million gallons per year, which is as much as the town Great Bend, with a population just over 14,000. Gravatt works in external affairs for Triple Oak, notes that as thirsty as it sounds, it would translate to water conservation. After all, the irrigation of crops on that land now pumps five times as much water.
“We will use less water than is currently being used at the property,’ Gravatt said.
Triple Oak Power wants to take over 6,000 acres of farmland near Garden City to build a data center surrounded by a sprawling array of solar panels, wind turbines and a natural gas plant.
…Today, those 6,000 acres use 3.2 billion gallons of water a year according to Finney County. That’s more than what all of Garden City uses in a year with a population of almost 30,000. The city used 2.17 billion gallons of water in 2023 [Calen moore, “An AI Data Center Project for Western Kansas Might Use Less Water Than Irrigation Farming,” High Plains Public Radio, 2026.06.09].
Data centers pose plenty of hazards to the quality of life (noise, pollution, robot destruction of humanity). But the water usage that motivated the Legislature and Governor Larry Rhoden to adopt new data center regulations this Session may not be among the biggest threats that data centers pose to South Dakota.