The Western Virginia Water Authority on Monday released to The Roanoke Rambler records showing how much water a Google data center complex in Botetourt County could use, after spending months and thousands in legal bills trying to hide what everybody already knew.

The authority agreed to provide the project 2 million gallons of water daily, climbing to 8 million gallons daily based on future expansion, the final contracts reveal.

The information disclosed was expected, but the case could have far-reaching implications in Virginia over whether governments can invoke a “proprietary information” clause in the state’s Freedom of Information Act to withhold certain records from the public.

“We see the frequent overuse of the exemptions for trade secrets and proprietary information to include anything and everything the business does,” Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said in an email. “I'm happy to see the judge's ruling stand.”

Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Leisa Ciaffone in November ordered the water authority to release the records after The Rambler's founder sued, arguing that the numbers are not proprietary. Ciaffone then allowed the agency time to hear back on an emergency request intended to pause her ruling.

The appeals court on Jan. 28 declined to hear that request — and did so again on Friday, after a second request from the water authority and Google legal teams. 

Google and the water authority warned that Ciaffone’s ruling would have significant impacts if it took effect. Her decision is the only one in Virginia finding that a data center’s water usage can’t be withheld under the state Freedom of Information Act as proprietary, according to the water authority and Google legal team. To make public the records that Ciaffone ordered to be released, the lawyers wrote last month, would “create precedent that would harm future economic development throughout the Commonwealth.”

In addition to Friday’s appeals court decision, the water authority was facing the prospect of a contempt-of-court hearing. Lawyers for The Rambler had asked Ciaffone to issue fines against Mike McEvoy, the water authority’s executive director, and hold him in civil contempt for not releasing the records at that point. A hearing was scheduled March 3. 

Google and the water authority did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment about the development in the case.

Google intends to build three hyperscale data centers, totaling nearly 1 million square feet, in Botetourt County’s Greenfield industrial park, permits filed last month show. The tech giant would spend at least $3 billion and employ at least 150 workers at the campus, which would lie across 312 acres that Google purchased last summer.

The final contract between Botetourt and the water authority states the authority will supply 2 million gallons of water daily to the site by January 2028, and a wastewater capacity of 570,000 gallons daily. The document says Google “may eventually expand the Project and request an increase in the water supply capacity up to 8 total mgd at some unspecified date in the future.”

Currently, the water authority’s largest customer is the Coca-Cola bottling plant, which last year used an average of 260,000 gallons of water per day and 54,000 daily gallons of wastewater.

Data centers use water to cool their equipment, which in the Botetourt County case likely would involve evaporation, records show. The estimated water usage would make the project among Google’s thirstiest data centers in the world, according to a Rambler analysis of active centers listed in the company’s sustainability reports.

Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance, a grassroots group, sprung up last fall amid growing concerns from residents about the project’s potential water and electricity use.

Earlier this month, about 50 people attended the group’s Q&A with McEvoy, the water authority director, at Roanoke’s St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. An alliance member, lawyer Hunter Hartley, asked McEvoy submitted questions, and the exchange was tense at times, with Hartley interrupting the authority director on several occasions.

McEvoy said the region needs to have a new water supply by 2060 regardless of the data center project. That could be expedited after Botetourt County agreed to help fund that supply because of the project, he said.

“If we can get it done now, we should get it done now. That’s the responsible thing for our organization,” McEvoy said.

A new water resource will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, McEvoy said, adding that he believes the biggest risk of the data center project is it not being built and leaving authority customers on the hook for those costs.

Google’s application for state environmental permits – reported by The Rambler earlier this month – is a good sign the project is proceeding, McEvoy said.

The water for the data center would be pulled from Carvins Cove, at least initially. The authority continues to discuss other options with Google, including the use of treated wastewater should that become available, McEvoy said.

Roanoke Rambler Editor Todd Jackson contributed to this story.