Data center well permit vote delayed amid uproar

The Port Washington Board of Public Works last week delayed action on a request from Vantage Data Centers to allow the company to use three existing wells on its property during construction of its campus after numerous citizens demanded the request be denied.

It was a contentious meeting, with repeated audience interruptions that prompted Board of Public Works Chairman Mike Gasper, a city alderman, to bang the gavel, call for “silence” and at one point threaten to have some members of the public removed.

“Do you want to try it?” he asked after one interruption. “Then be quiet. If you want to talk, you can go outside into the hall.”

Ald. Mary Lou Mueller, a member of the board who asked city staff members some of the same questions audience members had posed, at one point after an interruption told the crowd, “If you work with me I’ll work with you.”

Audience members concerned about a drain on the aquifer and groundwater contamination came armed with questions for the board, noting that Vantage has said it would use city water for its campus.

“We were told no water would be taken directly from the lake and there would be no groundwater used,” Dean Wiegert of the Town of Port Washington said. “I think the public should know if they actually have sewer and water running up to the data center and if they’re using it.”

He asked officials if the well water would be metered, whether the wells would be inspected and if there would be chemicals in the wastewater.

“How long will they be able to use the wells? Indefinitely?” Wiegert asked. “That doesn’t seem right. I am begging you to be able to answer these questions.”

Town resident Kim Tydrick asked, “I spent six months having to drive on gravel and crappy roads because you guys were putting a pipe in to give them the water they claimed they need, so why now do they also need water from the aquifer? What happened to the promise Vantage made that they would only use city water?”

She expressed concern it would draw down the groundwater and affect the wells she and her neighbors depend on.

“If and when there’s a problem with my well, I will be holding the city liable,” Tydrick said. “All the other neighbors feel the same way. We’re aware of what you’re doing and we’re going to hold you liable.”

Sebastian Elischer of the City of Port asked the board to “pause” Vantage’s request, saying recent data center lawsuits “call into question, at least temporarily, the  safety and sustainability of the proposed project.”

Vantage promised not to use well water, he said, and “that commitment matters. It’s part of the public trust.
Tracy Finch of the City of Port told officials that using well water puts too many neighbor’s water supplies at risk, especially if the water is used for Vantage’s closed loop cooling system.

“We don’t know what chemicals Vantage plans to use in their closed loop system,” she said, adding if they were to leak into the aquifer they could contaminate the groundwater.

“We cannot replace an aquifer after it’s damaged,” she said.

City Engineer Roger Strohm told the Board that Vantage has received a permit from the Department of Natural Resources allowing it to use four wells on its property that once served homes on the land, but the company has abandoned one of those wells.

Of the other three wells, he said one will be used by a seed company that is renting some of Vantage’s land and the other two will be used to serve offices used by the construction companies building the data center campus.

Mark Freeman, Vantage’s vice president of global marketing, told Ozaukee Press, “The existing residential pumps will remain in place and will not be upsized. “

Water from the two wells will feed two 6,000-gallon holding tanks, with a maximum daily draw of about 12,000 gallons for the temporary office setup, he said.

“These wells will be used only for the duration of construction,” Freeman said.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average four-person household uses 400 gallons of water a day.

All of the wells are north of Lake Drive, Strohm said, and will be used for “domestic plumbing” at Vantage’s “trailer city” where its construction companies have their offices on the far north end of the site.

Wastewater will be pumped into holding tanks and taken elsewhere to be treated, he added.

The company doesn’t plan to use well water for its closed loop cooling system, Strohm said.

“Their intent is that will come from our water system,” he said. “If they want to have their closed loop system, it’s on them to get it (city water) up there.”

The city has extended water lines to the far south end of the data center site, Strohm said, and Vantage is working to install water pipes throughout its campus. That work, however, is not complete.

The city will also be installing water lines to Lake Drive, he said, but that work won’t be complete until next summer.

Gasper said that it’s unlikely that Vantage would use well water for its cooling system, saying it would require building a “significant amount” of infrastructure to do so.

Strohm said the DNR requires water drawn from the wells to be metered, but added that it only gets a usage report annually. The city can request a monthly report if it wants, he said.

Even though the city hasn’t approved the well permit, Strohm has said, Vantage may use the wells now because they are existing wells.

The board agreed to delay action on the well permit until its next meeting, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25.

At that meeting, board members said, they want additional information, including a timeline and sunset date for the use of well water, metering information, assurances the well water won’t be used for the closed loop system, a requirement that the city be notified if the wells are modified and what testing of the wastewater should be done.

They also asked for an emergency plan in case of a chemical spill at the data center site.