Atlanta's data center boom has a water problem nobody wants to solve

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:00:00 -0400

I want to talk about something the Atlanta metro’s data-center boom has been quietly doing for the past three years, and that nobody in a position to do anything about it seems to want to discuss in public.

Water.

Hyperscale data centers — the massive warehouses that run cloud computing and AI training — use staggering amounts of water for cooling. A single medium-sized facility uses as much water per day as a small city. The largest ones use more than some Georgia counties.

Three-year bachelor's degrees are coming to Georgia. The numbers actually work.

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:00:00 -0400

The University System of Georgia last week approved a pilot program that will let participating students finish a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four — at roughly 75 percent of the total cost.

The reaction has split predictably. Higher-ed traditionalists think it’s a terrible idea. Reformers think it’s long overdue. Both are partly right.

Here’s my read.

What the pilot actually is

Twenty-six of the system’s 26 public universities are eligible to participate. Each will design three-year pathways in selected majors — initially mostly in business, computer science, and engineering. The first students will enroll fall 2027.

Opinion on WACN 21 News

Atlanta's data center boom has a water problem nobody wants to solve

Three-year bachelor's degrees are coming to Georgia. The numbers actually work.

What the pilot actually is