Data centers are drawn to the Great Lakes region — but is it prepared for water and energy usage?

The booming growth of data centers brings the promise of high-paying jobs and economic investment.

That’s especially true in Ohio and other parts of the Great Lakes region, where land is relatively affordable, there’s access to water, and the climate is less extreme than in some other parts of the country. The latter is an advantage for data centers, because it can help keep their cooling costs down.

But with that growth comes an incredibly high demand for water and energy, something which is becoming more of a concern even in the water-rich Great Lakes region.

On Tuesday, the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes held an hourlong webinar about how it believes the region is unprepared for rapid increases in water usage by major users.

The event had a three-pronged focus, but most