Virginia’s groundwater is under real pressure east of Richmond, and a long-delayed state report just confirmed it. Even modest data centers could exceed aquifer capacity in most of the region.

Uriah Kiser breaks down the new Virginia Department of Environmental Quality study on data centers and the Coastal Plain aquifer system. The report, due out in January but released only recently after more than six months, finds that aquifers east of Interstate 95 lack the capacity for significant new groundwater withdrawals.

Modeling showed that a 100-megawatt data center — small by today’s standards — would exceed available groundwater in most locations. Only one site, near Kilmarnock on the Northern Neck, showed enough capacity under the scenarios tested.

Withdrawals in one county can lower water levels dozens of miles away. A proposed ...