Hut 8 (HUT.TO, HUT) entered into an agreement with West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, to invest approximately US$16 million to expand local water system capacity in connection with the development of its River Bend AI data center campus, the company said on Tuesday.
The investment includes the construction of a new water well, approximately eight miles of water main, and other system enhancements, which will be transferred to the parish upon completion, expected in the second half of 2026, at no cost to taxpayers, said the company.
These improvements are expected to expand system capacity and reliability across West Feliciana Parish, with the potential to benefit more than 4,000 households and more than 200 employer establishments, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, stated the company.
"The investment aligns with broader efforts across Louisiana to strengthen water infrastructure, including the state's $750 million Water Sector Program, established to fund repairs and upgrades to community water systems," said the company. "By expanding core system capacity through private investment, the project is also expected to help preserve public funding capacity for other infrastructure priorities across the parish.
At River Bend, the company is expanding the local water system while designing its facilities to minimize demand on it, said the company and added that the campus will use a closed loop cooling system that "significantly reduces" ongoing water requirements and relies on water outside the residential aquifer, with no impact to the local water supply.
"We build infrastructure for communities, not just for ourselves," said Asher Genoot, Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8. "At River Bend, that means strengthening the water system the parish depends on rather than straining it. As the United States scales AI infrastructure, we believe this approach will set the standard for how AI infrastructure is developed in communities across the country."