Issue: Water Use and the White River
Our Water Use: What We're Actually Pulling, and From Where
Data centers and water use is a real conversation worth having honestly. Here are the numbers, the source, the cooling approach we're using, and why it's different from older facilities.
Water use is one of the most consistent concerns we hear from Baxter County residents, and it's fair. Older-generation data centers could consume millions of gallons per day using evaporative cooling towers. We want to be direct about what our facility actually does.
Our Cooling Approach
The Baxter County campus uses closed-loop rear-door heat exchangers and dry-side economization — not open evaporative cooling. This means water circulates in a sealed system and is not evaporated into the atmosphere. Total consumptive water loss is approximately 90% lower than an equivalent facility using conventional cooling towers.
The Numbers
- Peak water consumption at full 120 MW load: approximately 180,000 gallons per day
- Equivalent daily use: roughly 1.8 households per megawatt of IT load
- Water source: Baxter County Water Authority municipal supply — not a direct White River withdrawal
- We are a metered commercial customer, subject to the same conservation requirements as other large commercial users in the county
For comparison: a typical 18-hole golf course in Arkansas consumes 500,000–800,000 gallons per day in summer months. Our facility at full build-out uses less than a quarter of that, year-round.
Our Commitment
We've agreed to publish quarterly water consumption reports to the Baxter County Water Authority and make them publicly available on this site. The first report will cover Q3 2026 once the facility begins commissioning operations.
Have a follow-up question?
Reach us at community@cpdatacenters.com or use the contact form.