Stuart Blasts Amazon's Water Permit Request: 'Indefensible'

State Senator Richard Stuart is opposing Amazon Data Services' request to withdraw 6.4 million gallons of water per year from the Potomac aquifer for its proposed data center campus in King George County.

The request, made through a permit re-issuance application, would allow Amazon to extract an average of 17,354 gallons of groundwater daily for various uses such as employee potable water supply and lawn irrigation.

Stuart claims that issuing the permit would be 'indefensible' given the recent release of the Groundwater Supply East of Interstate 95 report, which concluded there is hardly any capacity to support additional significant withdrawals from the aquifer.

The Senator argues that the DEQ has already directed King George County officials to reduce their reliance on the Potomac aquifer and transition to the Rappahannock River as a drinking water source, a move expected to cost taxpayers $100 million.