Artificial intelligence often feels weightless—floating in “the cloud,” invisible lines of code transforming how we work, shop, and connect. But behind every AI tool, from Meta’s social platforms to Google’s search engine to ChatGPT, are physical infrastructures: massive, water-hungry, power-draining, noise-producing data centers.

Now, plans for the Mooresville Technology Park, a 400-acre development near Huntersville, Mooresville, and Kannapolis, North Carolina, put this reality in our backyard. While officials have paused the rezoning proposal (WFAE, 2025), residents are raising questions:

• Who benefits from AI’s growth?
• Who pays the environmental and health price?
• And how much longer can communities carry the hidden costs of the “cloud”?

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Water Wars: How AI Data Centers Drain Local Aquifers

Water is the first casualty of large-scale AI infrastructure.

• A single AI data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day—enough to supply 50,000 people (AP News).
• Globally, data centers guzzled 580 billion gallons in 2022 just to keep machines cool (Food & Water Watch).
• By 2027, water withdrawals are expected to reach 4.2–6.6 billion cubic meters annually, exceeding the entire UK’s usage (arXiv).

For the Lake Norman region—already dependent on shared aquifers and wells—this isn’t a statistic, it’s a threat. Families, farms, and local businesses risk being outbid by servers for water access.

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Energy and Air Pollution: The Hidden Cost of AI Power

The second toll is electricity.

• In 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 4% of the nation’s electricity, with 56% still powered by fossil fuels (arXiv).
• That energy demand produced 105 million tons of CO₂e emissions in one year, fueling climate instability.
• Increased reliance on coal and gas plants also releases PM2.5, NO₂, and SO₂, pollutants linked to asthma, heart disease, and shortened lifespans (Union of Concerned Scientists, IEEE Spectrum).

Residents near proposed data centers fear higher household electricity bills as demand strains the grid. In communities already struggling with rising utility costs, this could deepen economic inequities.

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Noise, Land, and Livelihoods Lost to the Cloud

Beyond invisible emissions, data centers reshape daily life:

• The constant hum of industrial cooling systems is compared to “living on an airport runway, with engines idling 24/7” (Wikipedia). Chronic noise contributes to stress, poor sleep, and cardiovascular problems.
• Thousands of acres across the U.S. have been rezoned from farmland into industrial AI zones, destroying habitats and rural livelihoods (USF Blogs).

For Iredell County, where farming and small-scale agriculture still matter, this isn’t progress—it’s displacement disguised as development.

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E-Waste and Mining: The Dirty Materials Behind Clean AI

Every AI query, chatbot response, and search runs on physical hardware. And that hardware has a cost:

• By 2030, AI servers are projected to generate 5 million metric tons of e-waste—12% of the global total (Wikipedia).
• Building these machines requires cobalt, lithium, and rare earth minerals, often mined under environmentally destructive and exploitative conditions.

What’s marketed as “green” tech actually accelerates toxic waste, extractive mining, and environmental degradation.

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Lessons from Tennessee: Land Taken, Health Broken

North Carolina isn’t the first to face these choices. In Tennessee, residents near AI hubs reported forced land sales and rezoning battles.

Farmers who once supplied communities with food found their wells running dry. Locals described respiratory issues from increased pollution. One resident put it bluntly: “We lost our farms for machines that don’t feed people.”

Mooresville’s proposal mirrors these stories, proving the stakes are not hypothetical—they are lived realities in neighboring states.

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Who Speaks for the People? NAACP and Local Voices of Resistance

In 2024, the NAACP released guiding principles demanding that corporations:

• Disclose water and energy usage.
• Sign community benefit agreements.
• Avoid siting data centers in communities already burdened by pollution (The Verge).

Across the U.S., journalists and advocates—from AP News to Teen Vogue to The San Francisco Chronicle—warn that while corporations reap the profits, locals absorb the pollution, noise, and rising costs.

Mooresville residents are now asking the same questions Tennesseans and Oregonians once did: Who protects the community when corporations come knocking?

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Poison on All Fronts: Food, Air, and AI Expansion

AI’s environmental costs can’t be separated from larger systemic poisoning:

• Food: Highly processed, chemically engineered products dominate shelves while farmers are pressured to use toxic pesticides.
• Air: Factories and industrial farms emit pollutants with little oversight.
• Water: Infrastructure is neglected while industries and now AI data centers exploit it.

The theme is clear: government inaction enables corporate profit at the expense of public health.

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From Peasants to Protectors: What North Carolinians Must Do Now

The cloud is not weightless. It has a footprint, and right now, that footprint lands on our soil, our water, our lungs, and our wallets.

We can either:

• Accept the role of modern “peasants,” bearing the costs of AI growth.
• Or become protectors, demanding transparency, oversight, and sustainable alternatives before a single shovel breaks ground.

The Mooresville Technology Park is not just another development. It’s a turning point: a chance for North Carolinians to show that community health matters more than corporate servers.

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References & Resources

• WFAE (2025). Proposed Mooresville Technology Park Faces Delays and Pushback.
• AP News (2023). AI Data Centers’ Thirst for Water.
• Food & Water Watch (2025). Artificial Intelligence’s Hidden Water and Climate Costs.
• Union of Concerned Scientists (2024). The Environmental Impacts of AI.
• IEEE Spectrum (2023). The Dirty Side of the Cloud.
• The Verge (2024). NAACP Guiding Principles on Data Centers.
• San Francisco Chronicle (2024). The Neighborhood Cost of AI.
• Wikipedia (2024). Environmental Impact of Data Centers.
• arXiv (2023–2025). AI Energy and Water Use Studies.
• USF Blogs (2025). The Environmental Impact of Data Centers.

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Disclaimer

This article is based on publicly available reports, scientific studies, and journalistic investigations. It is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Readers are encouraged to review cited sources and engage with local policymakers before drawing conclusions.

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About the Author

A.L. Childers (Audrey Childers) is a Carolina-born journalist, blogger, and author of multiple works exploring health, environment, and social justice. She blends investigative research with lived experience to uncover how hidden systems impact ordinary families.

Her books include Silent Chains: Breaking Free from Conformity and Injustice and The Hidden Empire: A Journey Through Millennia of Oligarchic Rule. Her blog, TheHypothyroidismChick.com , connects personal wellness with broader questions of governance, environment, and corporate power.