City lawmakers on Monday opposed a data center moratorium but moved forward with new regulations prohibiting excessive water and requiring operators to mitigate potential residential impacts. The Aurora City Council voted 7-4 to approve a resolution to create data center specific regulations, and opposed another more broad resolution that would have included a pause on data center development. Councilmembers Alison Coombs, Alli Jackson, Ruben Medina and Amy Wiles opposed the resolution. The resolution identifies two specific regulations: a prohibition on the use of evaporative cooling, which is a type of cooling system data centers use that can be water-intensive, and requires setback and buffers for data centers in certain areas that are near residences. 

Other data center water use news:

• The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.): Coachella could make its data center ban permanent
• Albuquerque Business First (N.M.): Project Jupiter developer commits to water efficiency partnership as air quality hearing looms
• Route Fifty (Washington, D.C.): How a research paper helped spark Utah’s data center water law