A global leader in data center infrastructure set out to build a large-scale, high-performance computing campus in South Central U.S. Built for extreme performance— with redundant electrical topologies, full UPS and battery backup, and very high rack densities —the facility required an equally resilient water filtration system to support primary chilled water and adiabatic chiller cooling.
With multi‑gigawatt‑scale power capacity, every system had to be engineered around a single imperative: continuous operation. For a site with stringent uptime objectives, any cooling disruption could trigger financial penalties and put the data center in breach of contract with its customers.
Challenge
To meet the demands of artificial intelligence and high‑performance computing at scale, the remote campus had to support continuous, non‑stop operation under extreme thermal loads. AI workloads drive unprecedented rack densities and heat rejection requirements, placing intense pressure on cooling systems and the infrastructure that supports them.
Unlike a conventional data center served by municipal water, this campus sources water from on‑site wells feeding a lined storage pond, from which water is conveyed to treatment and then distributed across multiple cooling loops.
The site’s location and scale introduced several challenges:
- Water quality constraints: Untreated well water required conditioning to meet hardness targets necessary for higher cycles of concentration, enabling water reuse while preventing scaling in cooling equipment.
- Operational risk during construction: Cooling systems needed to be commissioned before the permanent treatment plant could be manufactured, delivered, and installed.
- Remote reliability concerns: The owner sought to minimize complexity and failure points, particularly dependence on centralized plant compressed air systems that can introduce downtime risk in remote environments.
For a high-performance computing data center, reliability isn’t just a design goal—it’s a contractual requirement. The operator needed a treated-water supply chain that could perform in a remote environment without municipal pressure/flow and without plant compressed air, while removing as many failure points as possible—purpose-built for remote, airless operation.
Xylem’s solution
Xylem partnered with the project team to deliver a phased water treatment strategy, providing a temporary bridge solution to protect the construction schedule alongside a permanently treatment system engineered for long‑term reliability and scalability.
Phase 1 – Temporary Treatment Bridge
To support early commissioning and protect critical milestones, Xylem rapidly mobilized a temporary water treatment system from its mobile asset fleet. The temporary system was designed to deliver treated cooling makeup water while the permanent equipment was under fabrication.
Key elements of the temporary phase included:
- Mobile multimedia filtration and membrane treatment systems sized to support cooling operations
- Integrated chemical feed for scale and corrosion control
- Continuous monitoring and system oversight
- Full operations and maintenance support, including consumables management and membrane service
By assuming operational responsibility for the temporary system, Xylem transferred execution and water quality risk away from the owner—allowing the site team to focus on construction, electrical energization, and cooling system commissioning.
Phase 2 – Permanent Treatment System
In parallel, Xylem engineered and delivered a fixed, long‑term treatment solution designed around the site’s hydrogeology, cooling requirements, and reliability objectives.
The permanent system includes:
- Self‑priming intake pumping to move water from the storage pond to treatment without reliance on plant compressed air
- Triplex multimedia filtration for suspended solids removal and pretreatment stability
- Nanofiltration (NF) treatment to selectively reduce hardness and divalent ions
- Electric‑actuated valves and PLC‑based controls, eliminating dependence on centralized pneumatic infrastructure
- Integrated chemical feed and instrumentation for consistent performance monitoring
The system was designed to reliably produce cooling makeup water with hardness levels below 30 ppm (as CaCO₃)—supporting higher cycles of concentration and reduced overall water consumption within the cooling systems.
Why Xylem was selected
The customer was looking for a partner capable of:
- Supporting aggressive construction and commissioning schedules
- Designing a treatment system compatible with remote, non‑municipal water sources
- Reducing operational risk by simplifying mechanical and utility dependencies
- Scaling treatment infrastructure as the campus expands
Xylem differentiated itself by combining temporary and permanent solutions under a unified execution strategy, coordinating pumping, filtration, membrane treatment, controls, and operations into a cohesive delivery model. Close collaboration with the project engineering team ensured the solution could be integrated cleanly into overall facility designs while maintaining flexibility for future growth.
Results
Most importantly, the bridge solution protected the project schedule, maintaining continuous cooling operations while the permanent system was manufactured and installed. This enabled the operator to avoid liquidated damages, protecting against penalties that could reach $20,000 per day, and keep commissioning milestones intact.
Additional benefits include:
- Schedule protection: The temporary treatment bridge enabled continued cooling system commissioning while permanent equipment was manufactured and installed, reducing exposure to construction delays and potential liquidated damages.
- Operational continuity: Treated water was available throughout the transition from temporary to permanent systems without interrupting cooling operations.
- Improved cooling efficiency: By achieving consistent hardness control, the permanent system supports higher cycles of concentration and more sustainable water reuse.
- Reduced complexity: The permanent design minimizes reliance on centralized compressed air by using electric actuation and self‑priming pumping, removing common failure points in remote installations.
Backed by Xylem’s ongoing service and support capabilities, the completed system provides a robust foundation for long‑term cooling reliability as the campus continues to scale.