Gigawatt Ledger · one-page briefing
Campus profile Under construction
Quantum Frederick / Bauxite I
Amazon Web Services (Rowan Digital) · Adamstown, Maryland
The resource footprint
Modelled averageIn one day, this campus would consume about
4.250-metre swimming pools
Filled with the volume of water consumed by the campus and its electricity supply.
The actual estimate2,773,629 US gallons consumed
Power-plant water may come from a different watershed. This is a volume comparison, not a claim that households lose this water.
If announced plans are fully built · Not operating yet · Annual model spread evenly over time, not a live meter. Site estimates may differ by roughly ±40%.
Comparison sizes & sources
One pool = 50 × 25 × 2 metres = 2.5 million litres (about 660,430 US gallons). Pool depths vary; this is a defined comparison size.
One home-year = 10,791 kWh, the EIA’s 2022 average US residential electricity purchases. This excludes electricity generated at home and is a fixed US benchmark for all sites.
One car-year = 4.6 tonnes CO₂, the EPA’s typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. The campus model is in CO₂e; the comparison expresses approximate climate scale, not equal mixtures of pollutants.
Monthly values are annual totals ÷ 12; daily values are annual totals ÷ 365. Actual demand varies. Comparisons cover the whole campus, including non-AI uses.
Water: see the numbers and sources
This is water used up, mainly through evaporation. Power-generation water may be used in a different watershed.
- Pressure on local water
- Medium-High — a regional measure of demand compared with available water
- Where the water comes from
- Municipal potable supply
- Cooling
- Not disclosed in the air permit
- Basis
- Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.19 L/kWh
Air: see the numbers and sources
The totals include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and fine particles. They cover both this site and the power plants supplying it.
- Health range
- $8.39–24.1 million a year. Lower bound is EASIUR national mid-range; upper is EPA benefit-per-ton at a ~$12M VSL.
- Statistical deaths
- 2.01 a year at that VSL — a national-average conversion from tons, not a local concentration study.
- Equals
- 287,046 cars of NOx
- Where it burns
- PJM Dominion — Virginia
- Generation mix
- Gas 55 · Nuclear 30 · Coal 4 · Solar 5
- Diesel backup
- 99 gensets, 258 MW standby. Test-hours term: 31.0 t NOx/yr (50 h at 30% load, 8 kg NOx/MWh).
- Air permit
- 25.0 t/yr NOx enforced cap — 75.0 tons under the 100-ton Title V major-source line
- CO₂e
- 695 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
The project, approvals and community concerns
- Who asked for it
- AWS — four buildings (BWI-150 to BWI-153) on Rowan Digital's Bauxite I parcel inside TPG's Quantum Frederick park, the former Alcoa Eastalco smelter
- Who approved it
- MDE Permit to Construct issued 25 March 2026 for 99 diesel emergency generators with a 25 t/yr NOx cap; Frederick County overlay and a freeze on new data-centre approvals through end of 2026
- What it serves
- AWS us-east-1 availability zone in Maryland
- IT capacity
- 0 MW current capacity / 300 MW full-build scenario
The Maryland air-permit fight in the same metro as York Road. Ninety-nine diesel gensets are capped at 25 tons of NOx a year — 75 tons under the Title V line — and barred from running as primary power or in demand response. The rest of the 2,100-acre park (Aligned, further Rowan halls) is not in this row.
Keep this guide handy
39.3200°, -77.4800°
Quote or share these estimates
Gigawatt Ledger (2026). Quantum Frederick / Bauxite I: water and air. https://gigawatt-ledger.pages.dev/site/frederick/. Modelled from disclosed capacity; site-level error ±40%.
Include the estimate’s date, whether it describes current or proposed capacity, and its uncertainty. Get an embeddable card.
Gigawatt Ledger · September 2026. Water and air figures are estimated from public records and disclosed capacity. How we calculate them · Use this in your community.