Katie Britt

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt has introduced a bill proposing a tax incentive for businesses, such as data centers, to set up water recycling infrastructure - attempting to head off fears nationwide of excessive water usage.

The bill, introduced Wednesday along with Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.), offers a 30% investment tax credit for data centers, manufacturers and other water-intensive industrial entities if they also include water-reuse into their plans.

The credit would go to businesses that install or upgrade their own on-site water-recycling systems or expand municipal systems.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Advancing Water Reuse Act arrives at the same moment communities around the country are growing more concerned at the proliferation of data centers, and at a time when Alabama and other states are gripped in an ongoing drought.

The bill is being backed by businesses and trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PepsiCo.

Britt told the Journal that water-reuse projects will help secure safe drinking water and ensure that “farmers have the water they need to grow our food.”

Large data centers, which use water to cool its electrical equipment, can hog up to 5 million gallons of water a day, according to a study on the Environmental and Energy Study Institute’s website.