I Made a Yard Sign. Then ABC4 Called.
[ Read the full ABC4 article here.]
I'll be honest — I didn't expect a yard sign to end up on the news.
But here we are.
ABC4 recently ran a story covering my frustration with water restrictions in Riverdale and the Stratos Project data center in Box Elder County. And I think it's worth sharing, because the fact that this made news tells you something: people are paying attention.
Here's what they wrote:
"Jordan Smith, a Riverdale citizen, expressed frustration over water restrictions in his town, citing concerns over the approval of a large-scale data center project that could require significant amounts of water and power."
That's me. A regular homeowner with a yard sign and a point to make.
The sign reads: "This home identifies as a data center and will use whatever amount of water it wants."
Ridiculous? Sure. That's the point. As I told ABC4:
"A lot of the signs use humor and satire because sometimes that is the only way to get people to stop scrolling and actually engage in a conversation about something important."
And clearly, it worked — because now we're talking about it.
The core issue is simple. As ABC4 put it:
"Smith argued that everyday homeowners are being asked to limit water usage and make sacrifices due to drought concerns, while large-scale developments are not being held to the same standards."
That's not a conspiracy theory. That's just an observation. For years we've been told to cut back — shorter showers, less lawn watering, sacrifice for the greater good. And I'm not against that. Conservation matters.
But when a 40,000-acre data center project gets approved in the same state, in the same drought, I think it's fair to ask: are we all playing by the same rules?
MIDA and Box Elder County say the project won't pull water from homes, agriculture, or the Great Salt Lake — that it'll use a closed-loop system with existing water rights. And maybe that's true. The Utah Department of Natural Resources says it will oversee water usage for the project.
I hope they're right. I really do.
But hope isn't a water policy. And a yard sign isn't a solution.
It's a conversation starter.
So if you drove past my house, did a double take, and ended up here — welcome. That's exactly what I was going for.
Read the full ABC4 article here.