Blackstone-Owned QTS Used 30M Gallons Unmetered

Quality Technology Services consumed an estimated 29 to 30 million gallons of unmetered water at Project Excalibur, its data center development in Fayette County, Georgia, over a 15-month construction period during a state-declared drought. Fayette County issued a retroactive water charge of $147,474.

The county attributed the missing meter readings to a metering failure that occurred while officials migrated to a cloud-based metering system. During that transition the facility’s consumption was not recorded and remained off county records until a later review identified the gap.

The retroactive charge equals roughly $0.005 per gallon. Fayette County did not levy fines beyond the retroactive billing at that rate.

Residents in the area were subject to mandatory watering restrictions while the unmetered draw occurred, and some reported reduced water pressure during the drought. The unmetered industrial usage happened while household limits were in effect.

QTS owns Project Excalibur; QTS is controlled by private equity firm Blackstone. The unmetered consumption took place during construction, when activities such as concrete curing and mechanical-system testing typically use large volumes of water.

Georgia hosts more than 200 data centers. State policy has included tax incentives and expedited approvals to attract data center development, and the sector’s water and power demands receive attention during periods of limited supply.

Fayette County discovered the missing consumption after reviewing meter records and calculating the unrecorded volumes, then applied the retroactive charge following that review.