Lower Water Quality for Data Centers

Lower Water Quality for Data Centers

Ohio is the hottest data center market in the Great Lakes region, with nearly 200 facilities already operating and 77 more planned. But a proposed permit from the Ohio EPA could come at a significant cost to water quality. Right now, data centers pre-treat their wastewater before sending it to municipal treatment plants. The new permit would let them skip that step entirely and discharge untreated water (containing PFAS, nitrates, and other chemicals used to prevent corrosion and microbial growth in servers) directly into rivers and streams. The Ohio EPA's own draft language openly acknowledges "a lowering of water quality" is necessary to support economic growth. Environmental groups point out that the permit would apply to every data center in the state regardless of size or location, with no baseline water quality testing required and no mandate to consider less harmful alternatives.

The Science of Scale

LeverEdge published a guide breaking down why hard water scale is tougher on modern homes than most homeowners realize. The company explains that scale forms when hard water, which carries elevated levels of calcium and magnesium, gets heated or exposed to air, causing those minerals to crystallize and cling to pipes, heating elements, valves, and internal components. The damage is mostly invisible as scale acts like insulation, blocking heat transfer and restricting water flow before homeowners ever notice a problem. The team calls out modern appliances specifically saying high-efficiency dishwashers, tankless water heaters, and smart washing machines are more sensitive than older models, meaning even a thin layer of scale can interfere with sensors and disrupt performance. The fix, as you'd expect, is water softening: by replacing hardness minerals before they can crystallize, softeners protect plumbing, preserve appliance efficiency, and extend equipment lifespan.

Spears Lab Products (Sponsored)

If you're familiar with Specialty Sales, you probably know we stock Spears Schedule 40 PVC and Spears Schedule 80 PVC pipe and fittings for industrial applications. But did you know Spears also makes specialty products specifically designed for laboratory environments?

What's Available:

• 🔵 Low-Extractable PVC: Pipe, fittings, valves, and fixtures for ultra-pure water up to 18 megohm

• 🧪 LabWaste CPVC: Drain pipe engineered for strong acids, bases, and corrosive chemical waste

• 🚰 Lab Fixtures & Faucets: Gooseneck and lab faucets compatible with Low-Extractable PVC

• 💧 DI Components: Tanks, tank heads, and hose connectors for in-house pure water production

Check out the full blog post here, or watch Darrin walk through the lineup (3 min).

Need help finding the right products for your lab? Contact Specialty Sales here or reply to this email and we’ll get you connected.

Golf Course Water Supply

Kinetico posted an article on how living near a golf course can impact home water quality. The company anchors the piece around a 2024 study that found people living within one mile of a golf course have 126% higher odds of developing Parkinson's disease compared to those six or more miles away. The connection runs through water: golf courses rely heavily on herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to stay green year-round, and those chemicals don't stay put. The study found that residents on public water systems containing a golf course had 96% higher odds of Parkinson's than those whose water system didn't include one. The chemicals raising the most concern include glyphosate (linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), atrazine (a hormone disruptor), and nitrates (dangerous for infants). Kinetico recommends professional water testing and RO systems as the primary solutions for households around the roughly 16,000 golf courses in the U.S.

Electricity-Free System Treats Arsenic

​​Researchers in Argentina may have found a smarter way to tackle arsenic in drinking water, and it fits inside a standard countertop filter cartridge. Scientists at CONICET and the University of Buenos Aires started with ordinary activated carbon and modified it to specifically target arsenic by coating it with metal salts, which create surface "binding sites" that grab and hold arsenic as water passes through. In lab testing, the cartridge brought arsenic levels down to below the EPA's legal limit, with no electricity or added chemicals required. When the cartridge eventually fills up with captured arsenic, a simple wash process can strip the contaminants off and restore the material for reuse, and the researchers say production costs are comparable to premium cartridges already on the market. Field trials in real wells are still needed before this goes commercial, and then finding a manufacturing partner is the next big hurdle.

What else is happening:

• Water kiosks (typically privately owned) are under scrutiny after a study shows they can contain elevated lead levels

• WQA Podcast drops part ii WQA State Gov Affairs discussing state-level legislative trends impacting the water treatment industry

• Water Filter Guru reviews the Rorra Countertop System, calling it a “fresh take” on the conventional stainless steel gravity-fed filter

• SpringWell releases a DIY guide on how to properly install a RO water filtration system

• Virginia-based Mermaid Water & Plumbing says there are five ways hard water damages homes