NBC 4 Washington, Potomac River named nation's most endangered due to data centers, aging infrastructure
The Potomac River got top billing in large part due to the massive sewage spill that dumped over 230 million gallons of raw sewage into the river in January. But even if the spill had never happened, the Potomac would have made the top 10, according to Potomac Riverkeeper Network President Betsy Nicholas.
"We were already under discussions about having it as part of the top 10 endangered rivers at the end of last year," Nicholas told News4 on Tuesday. "So we were gathering information based primarily on the impact of water withdrawals, and then water quality concerns, about data centers."
The American Rivers list cites the "rapid, unchecked buildout of data centers" in the D.C. area as "a significant and growing threat" to the Potomac. Nicholas says data centers use a lot of water for cooling super-sensitive computers and chips. The more data centers there are, the more water is pulled from local water sources, like the Potomac. "As much as maybe 2 to 4 million gallons a day of water could be used for cooling," Nicholas told News4.
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