Drawdown

Bristol, CT

Gray Wolf Data Centers – Bristol

Gray Wolf Data Centers · Permitting · 234 Riverside Ave

Former Dodge Village site on the Pequabuck River. CT Siting Council approved fuel-cell power (Petition 1540) in Dec 2022; a construction-time extension was approved Sept 2025; the Inland Wetlands Watercourses Agency approved the wetlands permit in April 2026 with stormwater conditions. Active local opposition over water usage — the operator has published its own water-use comparison.

Estimated water use

Estimate

2,1305,550 gal/day

3 MW × 7101850 gal/day/MW (closed_loop_chilled_water)

3 MW capacity: graywolfdatacenters.comclosed_loop_chilled_water cooling: bristolct.gov

Ratio source: Uptime Institute Journal

Low end derived from an indirect-evaporative (ExCool-style) system reported at ~260,000 gal/year for a 1 MW facility. High end derived from a direct-evaporative system reported to use 10% of a traditional chiller/cooling-tower system's water. Both figures are this site's own gal/day/MW conversion from the cited source, not quoted verbatim.

Derived from a published industry ratio; actual use varies with operating conditions, load, and weather.

Lifecycle timeline

Observed

Confirmed events only, each with its source.

  1. ~April 2026

    Operator discloses closed-loop cooling system

    Facility described as using a closed-loop liquid cooling system (water recirculates) with municipal water purchased from Bristol Water & Sewer. Operator's own comparison: about 30% of the water used by a local grocery store and about 10% of a typical high school's annual use. Note: this and the wetlands-permit source refer to the applicant of record as "ReNew Properties LLC" / "ReNew Developers" at the same address, petition, and site as Gray Wolf Data Centers — likely the same project under a different corporate/filing name, but the discrepancy has not been independently resolved.

    Source

Observed hydrologic data

Observed

From nearby USGS and NOAA monitoring stations, refreshed monthly. Dashed lines mark lifecycle milestones.

Groundwater level (ft below surface)

5 stations, overlaid · monthly average

Streamflow (cubic ft/sec)

USGS Pequabuck River at Forestville, CT (01189000) · monthly average

Precipitation (in)

NOAA Newington 1.9 SSW, CT (GHCND:US1CTHR0065) · monthly average

Regulatory records

Observed

Water permits and environmental compliance records from CT DEEP Water Diversion Program and EPA ECHO.

No permit or compliance record from these sources currently matches this facility.

Other water permits in Bristol: local context only

21 other diversion permits on file in Bristol, held by other water users nearby (public water systems, industry, golf courses). The largest:

  • City of New Britain15 MGD max
  • City of Bristol7.2 MGD max
  • City of Bristol7 MGD max
  • City of New Britain6.624 MGD max
  • City of Bristol6 MGD max

Drawdown story

Assessment

Is the water table's behavior near this facility consistent with its estimated draw — and how strong is the evidence? A fixed rubric, recomputed monthly; every number below is stored with the inputs that produced it. Method: attribution-v1.

  1. 1 · Pathway

    The operator has not disclosed where this facility's water comes from. Until a source is published, the assessment is capped: an unclassified pathway can never raise the score.

  2. 2 · Detectability

    Even at the high end of the estimate, the draw would be invisible (under 0.2 ft) at the nearest monitored well 3.2 mi away — "not detectable" is the expected outcome.

  3. 3 · Signal

    No monitored well within 2 miles of this facility — there is no near-field record to compare against controls.

Facility not yet operating; baseline being recorded.

Attribution evidence score: withheld · as of 2026-07-22 · attribution-v1

Pathway0/35
Detectability0/15
Temporal signal0/30
Robustness0/20