We present each company's claim, then what the record adds. On water, the record often backs the company, so we say that plainly. Conceding what is true is what makes the harder questions credible.
A radiator, not an evaporator.
A closed-loop, glycol-and-water cooling system moves heat through radiator-style exchangers rather than by evaporating municipal water, the method most large data centers use. Edged's is built by its sister company ThermalWorks. The Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition (MEJAC) verified this first-hand on a tour of Edged's Atlanta facility: the coolant is a glycol-and-water mix like a car radiator, and the building's actual water use is roughly that of "any building occupied by a dozen or so people."1
Where the water argument is weak, and we say so.
The operational, municipal water draw of a closed-loop facility is minimal. MEJAC, an environmental-justice group, has publicly called the water fears "dramatically diminished." Stating otherwise invites a factual correction. Credibility means conceding this plainly.1
"Waterless on-site" is not "waterless."
The water cost moves upstream, it doesn't vanish. Dry, closed-loop cooling is less efficient than evaporative cooling and uses more electricity to reject the same heat, and that extra electricity is generated at power plants that themselves consume water. Nationally, the 176 TWh U.S. data centers used in 2023 drove an estimated 800 billion liters of water consumed indirectly through power generation.2
"Saves 23 million gallons a year" is a comparison, not a gift. That figure is measured against a hypothetical evaporative-cooled data center no one is proposing here, not water Prichard actually receives.1
Glycol handling and spill risk. A large glycol-and-water inventory near local waterways is a low-probability, higher-consequence event. A reasonable ask: a written spill-prevention and secondary-containment plan, and disclosure of glycol volume.1
Prichard and Calvert.
Prichard (Edged). On-site water is minimal; the real points are verification after it is built, glycol containment, and the upstream footprint at Alabama Power's plants.1
Calvert (Beacon). On its Calvert page, Beacon now says the hub would use closed-loop cooling with no evaporative cooling, and that South Alabama Utilities has confirmed availability of 7,500 gallons a day of water and 7,500 gallons a day of sewer, which the company calls "comparable to a small office building with about 250 employees." That is a company statement, not yet reflected in any public utility filing, but it does answer the on-site source question earlier reporting had left open. The upstream questions survive intact: the initial fill, ongoing make-up water, and, above all, the water used off-site to generate the campus's power. (In its Tom Green County, Texas project Beacon told commissioners it would use an on-site well and "evaluate brackish water with on-site desalination," different language for a different site; the earlier "Borrow Creek" listing remains an unverified lead.) Because Alabama has no state water plan and dated surface-water law, the Alabama Rivers Alliance and Southern Environmental Law Center are warning about data-center water statewide.3,4
What to put to the company and the commissions.
What is the on-site draw, and who verifies it?
What is the actual on-site water use, and who independently checks it after construction, not just before?
Is there a spill plan and a disclosed glycol volume?
Is there a written spill-prevention and secondary-containment plan, and has the glycol inventory been disclosed?
For Beacon, beyond the 7,500 gal/day figure?
Beacon now names South Alabama Utilities and 7,500 gallons a day. What is drawn for the one-time initial fill, and how much water is used off-site to generate the campus's power?
Every claim, sourced.
- MEJAC, "Doing it Differently: Hard Earned Lessons from Engaging with a Proposed AI Data Center on the Africatown side of Prichard," 2026-05-26.
- LBNL / DOE, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. Supporting: Environmental Law Institute, "Data Centers and Water Fact Sheet," Jan. 2026.
- WKRG, "Residents raise concerns over proposed data center in northern Mobile County," 2026-06-30; Beacon presentation to Tom Green County, TX (Concho Observer, 2026-06-02); Alabama Rivers Alliance, "Data Centers."
- Beacon Data Centers, "Calvert Infrastructure Hub" campus page (published 2026-06-12, updated 2026-06-30): closed-loop, "no evaporative cooling"; South Alabama Utilities "confirmed availability" of 7,500 gal/day water + 7,500 gal/day sewer, "comparable to a small office building with about 250 employees." Company statement, uncorroborated by any public utility filing. beacondatacenters.com
Keep reading.
Power & your bill
A data center runs around the clock. Who pays to upgrade the grid to feed it, and whether that shows up on nearby power bills.
03Diesel & air
The backup diesel generators, how often they run, and what they add to the air in an area that already lives with a lot of industry.
04Noise
The cooling fans and generators run day and night. How loud that is at the fence line, and how far the low hum carries to the nearest homes.
05Taxes & who pays
The tax breaks projects like these typically seek, the jobs required in return, and what a community trades away in the deal.
06Jobs, the real numbers
How many permanent jobs are actually promised, how many are in writing, and whether they'd go to people who live here.