# Arkansas Department of Agriculture — Hyperscale Data-Center Water Records (2026-05-22) The Arkansas Department of Agriculture's production in response to the data-center water-withdrawal FOIA request [[Joshua Dunlap]] filed 2026-05-19. Delivered 2026-05-22 by [[Kylee Horst]] through a time-limited SharePoint link, with redactions stated to be limited to bank-account numbers. Ten files: the Google / Project Pyramid water-use registration, three regulatory-correspondence threads on data-center cooling water, the draft 2026 Arkansas Water Plan demand-and-supply analysis, and a redacted fee check. This is the first production in the investigation to name **"Google Data Center"** in a government record, and it surfaces **two additional, unnamed hyperscale data-center water footprints**. ## What's inside - [[Google Data Center Water-Use Registration]] — Facility ID 900055; the registration of two existing Crittenden County wells to the "Google Data Center" at Proctor (the [[GROOT LLC|Project Pyramid]] / Bollinger Road site). Files: `Google DC emails 1.pdf`, `Google DC emails 2.pdf`, `Non-agri-Reg-Packet-2023-1 Central Well.pdf`, `Non-agri-Reg-Packet-2023-1 Galet.pdf`, `ck 1831 900055_Redacted.pdf`. - [[Data-Center Cooling-Water Regulatory Correspondence]] — three threads in which engineering consultants ask Arkansas agencies how data-center cooling-water wells, withdrawals, and discharges are regulated. Files: `Re_ Proposed Well(s) for a Data Center.msg`, `RE_ Proposed Well(s) for a Data Center_WPC.msg`, `RE_ Water well drilling for industrial cooling water within municipal boundaries.msg`, `RE_ Arkansas water_wastewater regulatory questions.msg`. - [[Arkansas Water Plan 2026 Demand and Supply Draft]] — `AWP_Demand-and-Supply_2.25.26.pdf`, the Department's draft statewide water demand-and-supply analysis (the generic stakeholder document referenced in the production email). ## Provenance Produced by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture in response to the FOIA request of 2026-05-19 ([thread](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#all/19e41be376489340)). After a Natural Resources Division engineer's initial "I have nothing to provide" (2026-05-20) and an acknowledgment/extension request (2026-05-21), [[Kylee Horst]] produced the records on 2026-05-22: *"please find responsive records attached by links below. Redactions were made to remove information related to bank account numbers."* See [[2026-05 Department of Agriculture FOIA Response]]. The raw files were downloaded from the agency SharePoint folder ("Joshua Dunlap 5.19.26") into `raw/agriculture/water-withdrawal-2026-05-22/` on 2026-05-22. ## Key takeaways - **Google is named.** The Department's water-use records identify the Bollinger Road / Proctor site as the **"Google Data Center"** (Facility ID 900055) — the first government record in the corpus to do so. The engineer who filed the registration described it as being filed *"On behalf of Project Pyramid"* (`Google DC emails 1.pdf`). This corroborates, across two agencies' productions, that the [[GROOT LLC]]-assembled Bollinger Road site is a Google data center. - **Two more data centers surface, both unnamed.** Separate from Project Pyramid, the correspondence documents (a) a data center planning to draw **4.32 MGD from the Sparta Aquifer** for cooling (engineer: [[McClelland Consulting Engineers]]), and (b) a confidential hyperscale-scale project doing land-purchase due diligence with cooling-water discharges *"in the hundreds of thousands to millions of gallons per day"* (engineer: [[Arup]]). - **A regulatory gap.** Department staff state repeatedly that a privately owned/operated data-center cooling well is not subject to Water Plan Compliance review, and that — outside a Critical Groundwater Area — the only requirement is well registration and annual use reporting. See [[Water-Use Registration]]. - **Responsiveness.** The production is substantively responsive to the FOIA request (water-use registrations and developer correspondence on data-center cooling water); only the AWP draft is generic. No responsiveness challenge is warranted. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Kylee Horst]] — Department FOIA correspondent; produced the records. - [[Katie Hartter]] — Department Water Use Program Coordinator; processed the Google Data Center registration. - [[Tyson Schlect]] — [[INFRA science & engineering]]; filed the Google / Project Pyramid water registration. - [[Elai Fresco]] — [[Arup]]; led the confidential data-center water due-diligence inquiry. - [[Google LLC]], [[McClelland Consulting Engineers]], [[Arup]], [[INFRA science & engineering]] — see per-file pages. - [[Arkansas Department of Agriculture]] — producing agency. Natural Resources Division staff in the correspondence include Tate Wentz (Chief, Water Resources Management), Josh Burns, Corbin Cannon, Blake Forrest, and David Cowden; Mike Guess is the water-use registration contact. The Arkansas Department of Health (Lance Jones) and the Division of Environmental Quality (Terry Liu, Dalton Barnum) also appear. ## Concepts invoked - [[Water-Use Registration]] — the Act 81 / Act 1051 / Act 154 registration regime, the metering requirement for sustaining aquifers, and the Water Plan Compliance gap for privately owned wells. ## Events documented - [[2025-09 Google Data Center Water-Use Registration]] - [[2026-05 Department of Agriculture FOIA Response]] ## Cross-references - The Google Data Center wells sit on the Bollinger Road site documented in the Crittenden County Assessor production — see [[2026-05 Crittenden County Assessor Produces Project Pyramid Records]], [[GROOT LLC]], and [[2024-11 GROOT LLC Acquires the Bollinger Road Site]]. "Central Well Bollinger" is named for Bollinger Road; the wells were drilled in 2012 and 2016, during the [[Bollinger Bros Inc]] agricultural ownership. ## Open questions / follow-ups - **Which data centers are the [[Arup]] and [[McClelland Consulting Engineers]] projects?** Neither is named in the correspondence. Both are hyperscale-scale cooling-water footprints; candidates include AVAIO / Project Leo and the announced Conway data center. Unconfirmed in the corpus. - **Is the Arup project and the MCE project the same site?** Both are unnamed data-center cooling-water inquiries; they use different consultants (Arup, San Francisco; MCE, Arkansas) and the corpus does not establish whether they concern one project or two. - **Total water demand at Project Pyramid.** The registration re-assigns two existing alluvial-aquifer wells; whether Google's data center will rely on those wells alone, or expand withdrawals, is not established here.