A 330 MW data center wanted to buy a farm, switch off the irrigation, and drink the difference — California's most powerful irrigation district said no, so it sued

Flowing water.

• IVCM petition asked Imperial County judge to overturn IID's refusal to sell it roughly 287 million gallons to cool a proposed 330 MW data center
• The company pledged in writing as recently as February that the project would not touch Colorado River water
• The case turns on whether fallowed farmland water can be reassigned to industry, a precedent worth far more than the volume in dispute

A recent petition filed in Imperial County Superior Court has asked a judge to order a public utility to start selling water to the largest data center project in the state of California.