Last week, the Trump administration announced a set of sweeping AI policy recommendations to “usher in a new golden age of human flourishing.” Among the suggested environmental rollbacks laid out in both an executive order and a corresponding AI Action Plan is a set of specific recommendations to essentially loosen Clean Water Act permitting processes for data centers. … The part of the Clean Water Act specifically named in these comments and in the recommendations from the White House deals with how projects like data centers could impact federally protected waters during construction or use, and what materials are discharged into those waters or dredged from them.

Other data center water and environmental impact news:

• AP News: Trump’s AI plan would sweep away key environmental law
• ZME Science: The AI boom is thirsty for water — and communities are paying the price
• KGUN (Tucson, Ariz.): Why do data centers need water?
• KJZZ (Phoenix, Ariz.): Report: Arizona, Western states need policies to prevent data centers from draining water, power
• The Land Desk: Blog: No, there is not plenty of water for data centers
• Data Center Knowledge: Blog: Inside a California data center seeking to model a new era of sustainability