Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Wisconsin environmental advocacy group that litigated to force the release of Microsoft's Mount Pleasant campus water use data suppressed under a city NDA.
Last refreshed: 26 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Should a Wisconsin data centre be allowed to draw 8 million gallons a day from the Great Lakes watershed?
Timeline for Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Mentioned in: Johor halts data-centre approvals after water protest
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashSued Racine to force release of Microsoft Mount Pleasant community impact data
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Microsoft Mount Pleasant: 8M gallons via lawsuit- How much water does Microsoft's Wisconsin data centre use?
- Under the terms of its agreement with Racine County — revealed through Milwaukee Riverkeeper's litigation — Microsoft can draw up to 8 million gallons per day to cool its $3.3 billion Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin campus.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
- Why was Microsoft's water use in Wisconsin kept secret?
- Microsoft cited commercial confidentiality as grounds for withholding the water agreement from public view. Milwaukee Riverkeeper's Freedom of Information litigation forced the release of the terms, revealing the 8 million gallon daily volume.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
- What is Milwaukee Riverkeeper?
- Milwaukee Riverkeeper is a Wisconsin environmental advocacy group in the Waterkeeper Alliance network, focused on water quality in the Milwaukee River basin and the Great Lakes watershed. It litigated to force disclosure of Microsoft's Mount Pleasant water use agreement.Source: Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Background
Milwaukee Riverkeeper is a Wisconsin-based environmental advocacy organisation focused on water quality and water rights in the Milwaukee River basin and wider Great Lakes watershed. It became a central actor in the Microsoft Mount Pleasant data centre water disclosure case: its litigation was instrumental in forcing the public release of the agreement under which Microsoft committed to drawing up to 8 million gallons per day of water from the Racine County system to cool its $3.3 billion data centre campus at Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.
Microsoft had initially refused to disclose the water-use terms of its agreement with Racine County, citing commercial confidentiality. The undisclosed NDA arrangement was brought to light partly through Milwaukee Riverkeeper's Freedom of Information requests and legal pressure. The volume — 8 million gallons per day — became a reference figure in national coverage of data centre water consumption, particularly given Wisconsin's positioning as a water-rich state attracting data centre investment precisely because of Great Lakes proximity.
Milwaukee Riverkeeper operates within the broader Waterkeeper Alliance network. The organisation has historically focused on industrial pollution and shoreline access; the data centre case extended its mandate into infrastructure-scale water appropriation, a precedent with implications for how the Great Lakes region manages the data centre industry's water demands.