Four parties agree on water supplier for new Microsoft data center in Granger

GRANGER, Ind. (WNDU) - Four parties that are interested in supplying water and sewer services to Microsoft’s new data center in Granger have made an agreement.

That includes the City of Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, St. Joseph County Regional Water and Sewer District, and Granger Water LLC.

This comes after months of disputes and arguments between the City of Mishawaka and the St. Joseph County government.

The proposed construction site for Microsoft’s new data center sits at the former St. Joe Farm land in Granger, which is right next to Mishawaka’s border line.

Back in April, the City of Mishawaka filed a petition to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, or IURC. It said the city wants to exclusively provide water and sewer services to Microsoft’s new data center.

Two months later, St. Joseph County responded with another petition to IURC, saying the county’s regional water and sewer district has been working with the Microsoft data center’s developer to provide services.

And on Tuesday, four parties surrounding this issue signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU.

All agreed on city of Mishawaka providing the water and sewer services to Microsoft’s data center if the company approves that.

They also decided on working collaboratively with each other to develop plans to provide water and sewer services to the northeastern part of St. Joseph County.

“We think this is a great opportunity to partner with the City of Mishawaka,” says St. Joseph County Economic Development and Executive Director Bill Schalliol. “They’ve got a great utility network. They’ve been running utilities across the city for 100-plus years. And so, why not leverage that to help grow our county in a safe and responsible matter?”

While county officials are excited to take their first step to potentially have Microsoft’s data center on 900 acres of land, people living in the area say there are still a lot of issues to be resolved.

Dennis Myers lives right across the Indiana Toll Road from the data center site. He says he’s worried if the city or county’s water utility can handle the amount of water needed by the data center.

“In five years, am I going to turn on the faucet in the kitchen or the bathroom and have water? Show evidence that that will be the case. If that’s not going to be the case, then they’ve got to have to do something else,” Myers says.

WNDU 16 News Now asked county officials how they would address the concerns among local residents.

Officials said they’re still in the early stages of their talks and will have their voices heard before they make final decisions.