"Doherty's story began when he noticed a rise in bizarre medical conditions among the county's 45,000 residents, linked to toxins in the local water. Working with the county health office, the rancher-turned-official began a survey of 70 wells throughout his jurisdiction - 68 of which, his testing found, violated the federal limit for nitrates in drinking water. Of the first 30 homes he visited, Doherty told RS that 25 residents had recently had miscarriages, while six had lost a kidney."
"Basically, the allegations go like this: industrial megafarms operating in the area are responsible for churning out millions of gallons of wastewater, laden with nitrates from fertilizers. All that waste has to go somewhere, which is one way of saying it mostly ends up in the ground. Amazon's hulking data center, thirsty for water to cool its blazing hot computer chips, supercharged this process, adding millions of gallons of wastewater a year to the heavy volume of farm runoff,"
Communities with large data centers face noise, higher energy costs, fire risks, and potential links to water pollution and rare cancers. In Morrow County, Oregon, cattle rancher and former county commissioner Jim Doherty found rising unusual medical conditions among about 45,000 residents and traced toxins to local water. His survey of 70 wells showed 68 exceeded the federal nitrate limit. Of the first 30 homes visited, 25 residents reported recent miscarriages and six lost a kidney; one non-smoker had a cancer typically seen only in smokers. Agricultural megafarms generate nitrate-laden wastewater that seeps into aquifers; a nearby Amazon data center added millions of gallons of wastewater annually, worsening contamination.
Read at Futurism
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