YPSILANTI, MI – City of Ypsilanti officials expressed support towards its water utility provider in their halt of water service towards data centers, including the University of Michigan and Los Alamos’s planned supercomputing site in Ypsilanti Township.
The Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority, which would provide water to the Los Alamos site, voted in April to implement a yearlong moratorium on water and sewer service for data centers and AI computing facilities. The pause includes new service connections, capacity reservations, infrastructure expansion commitments and preliminary or conditional approvals.
The Ypsilanti City Council said it has a responsibility to protect residents’ health, safety and overall welfare, noting the city relies on YCUA for essential water and wastewater services. Officials point to growing concerns over large-scale, or “hyper-scale,” data centers and similar high-demand facilities, which industry groups say can significantly strain water systems. Such facilities can require millions of gallons of water each day and produce substantial wastewater that must be carefully treated, the resolution said…