WaterMark / Jurisdictions / Storey County, NV (Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center)
Storey County, NV (Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center): Data Center Water Impact
Reference data for evaluating a data center proposal in Storey County, NV (Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center). Every figure below is a stored value with its primary source attached. Facility-scale results are produced by the assessment tool.
Water supply
| Metric | Value | Source / basis |
|---|---|---|
| Water utility | TRI General Improvement District (TRI-GID) | Utility of record |
| Supply source | Groundwater (Tracy Segment) + imported Reno-Sparks treated effluent | Utility of record |
| Treatment capacity | 8 MGD | Water stress: WRI Aqueduct 4.0 (Kuzma et al. 2023), Lower Truckee basin HUC-8 16050102, High category. Utility: TRI General Improvement District serves potable + non-potable process water exclusively to TRIC industrial/data-center customers. |
| Water rate | $1.15 / 1,000 gal | TRI General Improvement District (TRI-GID) published rate schedule |
| Watershed stress | High (3.4 / 5) | Water stress: WRI Aqueduct 4.0 (Kuzma et al. 2023), Lower Truckee basin HUC-8 16050102, High category. Utility: TRI General Improvement District serves potable + non-potable process water exclusively to TRIC industrial/data-center customers. |
Watershed consumptive use
Basin: Lower Truckee (HUC-8 16050102). Figures are consumptive use, not withdrawal, because evaporative data center loss is consumptive. USGS data year 2015.
| Category | Consumptive use (MGD) | Share of basin |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | 0.7 | 29.5% |
| Thermoelectric power | 1.6 | 67.5% |
| Industrial | 0 | 0.0% |
| Irrigation | 0 | 0.0% |
| Mining | 0.07 | 3.0% |
| Existing data centers | 0 | 0.0% |
| Total | 2.4 | 100.0% |
Total is the sum of the categories listed above. Shares are each category divided by that total. Source: USGS Estimated Use of Water 2015, county-level data release (Dieter et al. 2018), Storey County, NV. Values are 2015 freshwater withdrawals (Mgal/d): PS 0.53 + DO 0.17 = residential 0.70; IN 0.00; IR 0.00; MI 0.07; PT 1.60.
Grid generation water (Scope 2)
Generating the electricity a data center consumes evaporates water at the power plant. That volume is real, it is attributable, and it is excluded from most corporate "water positive" accounting. On a thermal grid it is frequently comparable to the facility's own cooling water.
| Metric | Value | Source / basis |
|---|---|---|
| Grid region | WECC (NV Energy) | NV Energy |
| Electric utility | NV Energy | Utility of record |
| Grid water intensity | 0.18 gal / kWh | Macknick et al. 2012 recirculating-cooling consumption factors, weighted by the NV Energy gas + solar + geothermal mix per EIA Nevada. Same 0.18 gal/kWh basis as the existing clark-nv / washoe-nv NV Energy entries. |
| Local peak demand | 650 MW | NV Energy |
| Modeled rate impact | 6% to 14% | See methodology |
Where this water is consumed: NV Energy generation serving TRIC (gas at Tracy/Fort Churchill, solar, geothermal) is largely outside the Lower Truckee HUC-8 used for direct withdrawals; Scope 2 water is consumed at generation sites elsewhere in WECC-NV.
Run this county at your facility size. The assessment tool computes direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2) water for a specific load, cooling system, and mitigation stack, with the same citations attached.
Open Storey County, NV (Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center) in the assessment tool
Reducing the footprint here
A high stress reading is a design constraint, not a verdict. Closed-loop and dry or hybrid cooling, adiabatic assist, immersion, and reclaimed or non-potable sourcing each move the direct number, and siting against a cleaner grid mix moves the indirect number. The solutions catalog lists each option with its water reduction, its energy and cost tradeoff, and its source.
Related counties
| County | Water source | Watershed stress |
|---|---|---|
| Clark County, NV (Las Vegas) | Lake Mead / Colorado River | Extremely High (4.5/5) |
| Washoe County, NV (Reno) | Truckee River + Donner Lake | High (3.2/5) |
How these numbers are derived
Assumptions, formulas, and the full source list are in the methodology. WaterMark is published by Standard Water Corp and is not affiliated with any data center developer, utility, or government agency.