Last year, residents of Fayetteville, Georgia noticed their water pressure was unusually low. When Fayette County investigated, they discovered something extraordinary: a local data center had tapped into the county water system through two unauthorized connections and used nearly 30 million gallons of water without paying for it. That is the equivalent of 44 Olympic-size swimming pools.

The data center, operated by Quality Technology Services (QTS) and owned by private equity giant Blackstone, owed $147,474 in unpaid water bills. QTS paid the retroactive charge. The county levied no fine. No penalty. Nothing.

This was happening during a drought. Governor Brian Kemp had declared a state of emergency over one of Georgia's worst wildfire outbreaks in years. During that same period, Fayette County residents were receiving notices asking them to stop watering their lawns to conserve water.

"We get this notification from Fayette County water system saying you need to stop watering your lawns," said James Clifton, a property rights advocate who uncovered the situation through a public records request. "So the first thing they do is lean on the individuals and the citizens to stop water consumption when we have QTS that's just absolutely draining us."

When asked why no fine was levied, the county water director said: "They're our largest customer, and we have to be partners. It's called customer service."

That is not customer service. That is a two-tiered system where residents sacrifice and corporations pay nothing extra for breaking the rules.

We are calling on Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly to require real-time public water metering for all industrial users, mandate water impact assessments before large data centers are approved, and establish automatic financial penalties when any user takes water without authorization.

Georgia's water belongs to its people. Not to the largest customer.