Data Center Water Infrastructure Investment in Quincy, WA

DataCenterKnowledge has a post on new recycled water for Microsoft’s Data Center in Quincy, WA.

Quincy Plans Recycled Water for Microsoft

June 15th, 2009 : Rich Miller

coolingtower-googleThe city of Quincy, Washington is spending millions of dollars to build a system to supply recycled water for huge data centers operated by Microsoft Corp., Yahoo, Intuit and Sabey Corp. The system will allow Quincy to shift the data centers’ water requirements to a separate “gray water” system rather than depleting the city’s potable water supply. 

The water recycling program is similar to one implemented in San Antonio, which Microsoft cited as a key factor in its choice of the city for a $500 million data center. It reflects a trend in which municipalities and data center operators are working to minimize the impact of these facilities on local water systems.

The Quincy project, which will treat up to 5 million gallons of water a day, will cost $9 million. The first phase is being built with a $4.5 million grant from the state, according to the Wenatchee World, which said the city has appealed to federal lawmakers for the rest of the money.

The original post is in Wenatchee World.

Will Lacey, a Yahoo site operations technician from Dallas works on an underground wire system in the Yahoo data center in Quincy. (World file photo/Kathryn Stevens)

Data centers keep economy humming

By K.C. Mehaffey
World staff writer

Posted June 13, 2009

QUINCY — Two years after Microsoft began operating a data center in Quincy, the city is in the midst of a multi-million-dollar project to bring recycled water to the facility.

Eventually, the city wants to provide recycled water to the three data centers there, and any others that sprout up.

Microsoft’s 474,000-square-foot building on 75 acres is one of three massive data centers in Quincy.

Yahoo and Intuit also bought land and built large server farms. This winter, Sabey Corp. bought about 40 acres of land in Quincy and will break ground this summer on a data center. In May, Sabey spokesman John Ford said two 286,000-square-foot buildings and one 125,000-square-foot building are planned for the site.

This is great to see people making recycled water infrastructure as part of data center requirements.

Two years ago I asked questions about the water use of Microsoft’s Quincy data center and back then, no one knew the answer. the common response is “Why are you asking?” 

Now I know it is a lot easier to get answer to this question.