Data center developer sues IID for refusing water service in Imperial County

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing (IVCM) and its owner, Sebastian Rucci, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).

In the complaint, Rucci alleges that the IID denied his application for industrial water service to supply water to his company's data center.

The lawsuit seeks about 260 million gallons of Colorado River water per year. IVCM claims that IID owes a duty to provide water service to lands within its boundaries on reasonable, equitable, and nondiscriminatory terms and may not arbitrarily refuse or withhold such service.

Rucci says his company leased roughly 160 acres of farmland, and the water used on that land should be redirected to the data center.

IVCM claims that IID owes a duty to provide water service to lands within its boundaries on reasonable, equitable, and nondiscriminatory terms and may not arbitrarily refuse or withhold such service.

"The data center will buy its water by buying land and fallowing it. And if they don't want to do that, then we'll do it by assignment where another landowner assigns his allocation to you. Again, the impact of the Colorado River is zero," Rucci said in an interview with KYMA.

People opposed to the data center pointed out that Rucci and his company initially said that the data center would use reclaimed wastewater to cool it.

In fact, the claim is still on their website. When asked about this, Rucci said that the deal to use reclaimed water fell through, and his website has not been updated.

Rucci says he offered to swap the land for the proposed data center back to the original site, which is reportedly farther away from homes.

"Last Saturday, I notified them. I said, 'Look, if you want to move it, let's switch it back to the old site. You guys do a land swap; we'll take the land, and we'll make it a park. They want to stay hold, let's go to court," he said.

Currently that land is used for growing alfalfa, according to Rucci.

When asked about online videos, news reports, and studies highlighting concerns about living near large data centers, Rucci dismissed those claims.

A recent study by the World Resources Institute found that large AI data centers can place major demands on local resources, with some facilities using hundreds of thousands to millions of gallons of water for cooling.

AI data centers also require huge amounts of water to keep servers cool, which can be a pressing problem for communities already facing drought or depleting water supplies. In addition, data centers need a constant and reliable power supply, which can result in air pollution and climate impacts.

We reached out to the IID for an interview; however, they said they cannot comment on current legal matters.

To learn more about the lawsuit, see attached file.