A new report from Rolling Stone alleges an Amazon data center in the U.S. state of Oregon is worsening nitrate levels in its drinking water, which is linked to an increase in cancers and miscarriage rates.
The data center pulls water to cool its systems from Morrow County’s main source of water, discharging water that’s more concentrated with fertilizer byproducts from farm runoff. Amazon says its cooling process does not add any nitrates to the water and denies a direct link to the higher concentrations of nitrates in local water, telling Rolling Stone the report was “misleading.”