Business · Ars Technica
Deppert, who is also the president of the local farm bureau lobby group
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 outlet. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
“You can’t lay down and let everybody do whatever they wish,” Deppert says.
Key facts
- Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory forecast that so-called hyperscaler data centers will consume anywhere between 60 billion and 124 billion liters (16 billion and 33 billion gallons)
- Around 78 percent of US counties dependent on agriculture voted for him in 2024, according to analysis of election data by Investigate Midwest
- In DeKalb, a city of around 40,000 people, water demand averages over 3 million gallons a day, rising to in excess of 4.5 million gallons at peak
- Data centers have already emerged as a significant driver of economic expansion in the US, accounting for 80 percent of private sector growth in the first half of 2025, according to S&P Global
Summary
In Tazewell County, Illinois, Michael Deppert depends on a natural pool of water beneath the sandy soils of his farm to irrigate the pumpkins, corn, and soybeans growing in his fields. So when a data center was proposed about eight miles away, he feared it would tap the same aquifer, potentially eroding crop yields and profits. Deppert, who is also the president of the local farm bureau lobby group, says locals were also “nervous” about how a data center would affect the “good, clean drinking water.” Residents launched a fierce opposition campaign, packing city council meetings and mounting petitions. It is one of the many pockets of resistance opening up across rural America, where a backlash against the explosive growth of the infrastructure for AI and cloud computing is at its sharpest.