# Applied Digital has two unregistered water wells at its data center

> Applied Digital told KALB the finished data center would use 1,200 to 4,800 gallons of water a day. Two wells at the site had already pumped about 12 million gallons, and the state has no registration for either one.

**By:** Bentley Hensel  
**Published:** 2026-08-12  
**Updated:** 2026-08-12  
**Canonical:** https://kingfish.la/data-center-unregistered-wells/  
**License:** CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)  
**Cite as:** Bentley Hensel (2026). Applied Digital has two unregistered water wells at its data center. Kingfish. https://kingfish.la/data-center-unregistered-wells/

---

📝

****Disclosure:**** The Kingfish Project took the aerial photographs with help from [Save My Louisiana](https://www.savemylouisiana.org/?ref=kingfish.la). The group is a 501(c)(4) citizen volunteer organization whose stated mission is educating Louisiana citizens to defend their constitutional rights and their environment.

Applied Digital told [KALB](https://www.kalb.com/2026/06/25/fact-check-what-early-documents-confirm-about-applied-digitals-data-center-coming-rapides-parish/?ref=kingfish.la) in June that its Delta Forge 1 data center near Boyce would use 1,200 to 4,800 gallons of utility water a day for "office-type" uses, plus a one-time cooling-loop fill of about 1.7 million gallons. The state's [announcement](https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/news/central-louisiana-secures-3-6-billion-applied-digital-ai-factory-campus?ref=kingfish.la) of the project in May touted "proprietary waterless cooling." Neither mentioned the two wells that had been pumping groundwater at the site since April. In [written answers](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_APLD_response.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) on August 12, the company put their production at about 12 million gallons. The [company says](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_APLD_response.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) those figures describe the finished data center rather than the construction.

Detailed water records were withheld from KALB as trade secrets. Louisiana requires no meter and no usage report for an industrial well in Rapides Parish. The filing that would have put these wells into a record a citizen can search is the registration their driller owed the state within 30 days of finishing them, and it has not arrived.

On August 7, the state office that maintains Louisiana's groundwater records [answered a written question](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-email.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) about those wells: it "does not appear that the proposed wells have been installed at this time." The Kingfish Project photographed both finished wellheads from the air on July 30, standing at the coordinates the company's driller filed with the state in March.

Both accounts describe the same two wells, [**40-0252**](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0252.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) and [**40-0253**](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0253.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), notified to the state on March 31, 2026, acknowledged on April 6, and drilled that month. The notification forms put their combined pumping capacity at **594,000 gallons per day** and estimated completion by May 31. Applied Digital says both wells were finished between April 9 and April 21.

The company's dates set the filing deadline for the second and third weeks of May, about eleven weeks before the state's August 7 answer. Asked why nothing has reached the state, [Applied Digital said](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_APLD_response.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) the registration filings "have been made by the contractor." A [SONRIS search](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_SONRIS_Publication.png?ref=kingfish.la) on the morning of publication returned no registration for either well.

## The paper trail

The wells entered the record on the morning of March 31. At 10:26 and 10:30 a.m., [R.A.M. Drilling, LLC of Bunkie](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/RAM_Drilling_business.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) called in two Louisiana 811 locate tickets ([260214966](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/la811-260214966.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), [260214988](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/la811-260214988.pdf?ref=kingfish.la)) for "WATER WELL DRILLING" at James Road and State Highway 121 in Boyce, work "being done for APPLIED DIGITAL," work to begin April 6. The same day, driller Alan Miller signed two state notification forms for the wells' owner of record, Applied Digital of Dallas. [Well #1](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0252.pdf?ref=kingfish.la): four-inch casing, 120 feet deep, "Pumping Rate (Gallons Per Day): 144,000." [Well #2](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0253.pdf?ref=kingfish.la): eight-inch casing, 120 feet deep, 450,000 gallons per day. Both list up to 200 pumping days a year and an estimated completion date of May 31, 2026.

The state's Office of Permitting and Compliance wrote back on April 6, assigned the well numbers, and found the proposed withdrawal "should not adversely affect water withdrawal from other registered water wells in the area or to the sustainability of the aquifer." Rapides Parish sits outside Louisiana's designated groundwater areas, so that letter is the only review these wells get. The driller often files the notification on the owner's behalf.

On July 30, we photographed the site from the air and plotted the forms' coordinates onto the frames.

### The Site

The equipment yard holds both wells; the row of white tanks about a quarter-mile away is the water storage and lime operation.

![Aerial view of a large cleared construction site with two small equipment clusters along a dirt road, surrounded by green fields and tree lines.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/20260730_kingfish_deltaforge_01_site-1.jpg)

Applied Digital's Delta Forge 1 data center site under construction along Interstate 49 near Boyce, seen from the air July 30, 2026. The equipment yard holds the site's two water wells; it and the water-storage and lime operation sit along the haul road as crews stabilize soil across the 672-acre tract.

### The Wells

Insets A and B enlarge the two installations, plotted from the coordinates on the notification forms: Well #1, 40-0252, notified at 144,000 gallons per day, and Well #2, 40-0253, notified at 450,000. Both are finished wellheads, and no drilling equipment appears anywhere in the frame.

![Aerial photograph of an equipment yard at the Delta Forge 1 construction site with two insets enlarging finished water wellheads.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/20260730_kingfish_deltaforge_02_wells.jpg)

The two finished wellheads at Delta Forge 1 on July 30, 2026, enlarged in insets A and B and plotted from the coordinates on the state notification forms.

### The Corridor

The dashed line is our annotation, drawn along ground marks running between the wells and the tank row.

![Aerial photo with a dashed yellow line tracing a water line across a field from an equipment yard labeled Wells to a row of white storage tanks beside lime-mixing trucks.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/20260730_kingfish_deltaforge_03_waterline.jpg)

A water line emerges at the edge of the equipment yard, near the site's two wells, and runs to the storage tanks supplying water trucks and the lime-slurry operation at Delta Forge 1, July 30, 2026.

### The Fill Point

A tanker truck loads at the stand beside the row of water storage tanks.

![Aerial photo of white storage tanks and tanker trucks, with a yellow box and enlarged inset highlighting a water truck parked at a fill point.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/20260730_kingfish_deltaforge_04_fillpoint.jpg)

A water truck fills at the fill point beside a bank of storage tanks at Applied Digital's Delta Forge 1 site near Boyce on July 30, 2026. The tanks supply the trucks and lime-slurry operation used for soil stabilization across the site; a section of the water line feeding the tanks is visible at upper right.

### The other water source

Rapides Island Water Association serves the property through a residential connection, and the water it delivers goes to the house on the tract for ordinary household use rather than to bulk fill for trucks. The tanks that supply the trucks and the lime-slurry rig sit at the end of the line that runs from the equipment yard, where both wells stand.

### The Lime Operation

Dry-bulk trailers work beside the water tanks, dust rising off the white residue on the pad. The company began delivering lime as a water-based slurry after receiving a [dust citation](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/ldeq-ai250709-memo.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) in May.

![Aerial close view of tanker trucks and mixing equipment with steam rising, beside a row of white water storage tanks; yellow boxes label the tank row and lime mixing area.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/20260730_kingfish_deltaforge_05_limeops.jpg)

Water storage tanks and lime-slurry equipment at the center of Delta Forge 1's soil-stabilization operation, July 30, 2026. After a state dust citation in May, the site's general contractor told regulators it had switched from spreading dry lime to delivering it in a water-based slurry to keep dust down.

Then we searched [SONRIS](https://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/ords/r/sonris_pub/sonris_public/home?ref=kingfish.la) ([Direct Search](https://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/ords/r/sonris_pub/sonris_data_portal/water-wells-search?ref=kingfish.la)), the state database where every registered well appears. For industrial wells completed in Rapides Parish in the past six months, the search returns one record: a well at Cabrini Hospital. We asked the state's groundwater office whether we were reading its search wrong. Nicole R. Hall, a professional geologist with the Department of Conservation and Energy, reviewed the office's files and replied within two days: "My search results were the same as yours."

## Eleven quiet weeks

Governor Landry announced the $3.6 billion campus on May 26. The wells were filed in March and finished in April, and the deadline to register them passed before he spoke.

Date

Event

March 31

Notifications filed; both 811 tickets called in

April 6

State acknowledges the wells; 811 work window opens

April 9–21

Wells completed, per Applied Digital

April 26

811 tickets expire

May 9–21

Registration deadline, 30 days from completion

May 26

Governor announces the project

July 30

Kingfish photographs completed installations at both locations

August 7

State: no registrations received; wells appear uninstalled

August 12

Company: about 12 million gallons pumped; filings "made by the contractor"

## The water figures the public got

Applied Digital says the wells are used "solely for dust mitigation and lime slurry mixing for construction." The 12 million gallons the company reported on August 12 is the first public number for the water already coming out of the ground at Delta Forge 1: about seven times the one-time cooling fill it disclosed, and, spread across the days since the wells came online, an average near 100,000 gallons a day. The top daily figure it gave KALB was 4,800.

The wells' combined notified rate of 594,000 gallons per day would fill the cooling loop from the ground in under three days. A notified rate is an estimated maximum on a form. What the wells have pumped since spring rests on the company's word.

## The missing registration

[Hall's August 7 email](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-email.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), in full on this point:

> The water well notifications for GWR IDs 40-0252, 40-0253, and 40-0255 were approved, but it does not appear that the proposed wells have been installed at this time. There is no timeframe in which the wells must be installed after our office approves the notifications. The driller is required to submit the water well registration(s) within 30 days of completing the well(s), but our office has not received registrations for any of the proposed wells from the notifications to date.

The third number, [40-0255](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0255.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), belongs to a concrete supplier's well that R.A.M. Drilling notified the same day. It is also unregistered.

Registration is the driller's duty. [LAC 56:I.105](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/louisiana/La-Admin-Code-tit-56-SS-I-105?ref=kingfish.la) gives the contractor 30 days from completion to file, and counts a well as complete when the owner accepts it, or the contractor moves his equipment off the site, whichever comes first. Our photographs show finished wellheads on July 30 and no drilling equipment. Applied Digital puts completion between April 9 and April 21, which sets the filing deadline between May 9 and May 21, about eleven weeks before Hall wrote that the office had received nothing.

The company's answer to that gap runs one sentence: "The registration filings have been made by the contractor." Hall wrote that her office processes registrations within 30 days of receipt and posts them online about a day later. The Kingfish Project has asked Applied Digital for the filing dates, and a SONRIS search on the morning of publication returned the same single industrial well for Rapides Parish, at Cabrini Hospital, completed in February. A registration filed in recent weeks could still be in processing. It would not account for the eleven weeks between the deadline and the day Hall searched her own files.

![Screenshot of the state SONRIS water wells search for industrial wells completed in Rapides Parish in the last six months, returning a single record for Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital.](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_SONRIS_Publication.png)

A SONRIS Water Wells Search for industrial wells completed in Rapides Parish in the last six months, run on the morning of publication, August 12, 2026. The search returns one record: registration 808166, a well at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital, completed February 16, 2026. Neither 40-0252 nor 40-0253 appears.

The registration also carries more than the notification. For an industrial well, the rule calls for the electric log, the cuttings analysis, the chemical analysis of the water, and the aquifer test results to be attached where available — the technical record of what these wells draw from. Until the form is filed, everything stays with the company and its driller.

Cabrini Hospital completed an industrial well in February. A different contractor drilled it and filed the registration, and it appears in the public search as the only new industrial well the state's records show for the parish, on [a spreadsheet](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/industrial-wells-rapides-parish.xlsx?ref=kingfish.la) where the previous new entry is from 2022.

The forms are captioned as 60-day prior notifications, and [the rules](https://regulations.justia.com/states/louisiana/title-43/part-vi/subpart-1/chapter-7/section-vi-701?ref=kingfish.la) require owners to notify the state at least 60 days before installation. These wells went from filing on March 31 to scheduled drilling on April 6, after the office had "received and responded," as a separate subsection requires of the contractor. Applied Digital says the notifications were "fast-tracked due to the need for on-site dust mitigation, in response to specific concerns about dust from local community members." The company did not cite any provision that shortens the 60-day period, and the state's April 6 letter mentions no waiver. The dust citation on file at LDEQ came in May, after both wells were finished.

### Which aquifer

The driller wrote "RED RIVER ALLUV" on both forms, the shallow Red River alluvial aquifer. The reviewing office stamped both with 122CRNB, a code for the deeper Carnahan Bayou aquifer. The finding that the withdrawal should not affect the aquifer's sustainability was made under that code.

## What comes next

Applied Digital answered five written questions on August 12 through JSA, the outside firm that handles its media relations. It dated the wells to April 9 through April 21, put their production at about 12 million gallons used solely for dust mitigation and lime-slurry mixing, said the registration filings have been made by the contractor, attributed the six-day notification timeline to dust control, and said its earlier water figures described the finished data center rather than construction. [The full exchange is posted here](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_APLD_response.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), with private contact information redacted.

R.A.M. Drilling, which the company identifies as the party responsible for the filings, did not respond to an emailed request or a voicemail left the same day, July 29. A change in a well's use requires an amended notification 60 days before the new use begins. If the registrations surface, this story will say so, with dates: forms are processed within 30 days of receipt, Hall wrote, and appear online about a day later.

Anyone can check. Search SONRIS for wells **40-0252** and **40-0253**, or write the Water Administration Division at `gwater@la.gov`. The office answered our questions in two days, with its records attached.

* * *

Each approval letter carried one warning, printed on the acknowledgment itself: "there may be unregistered water wells in the surrounding area." Four months later, the wells those letters approved have pumped about 12 million gallons. Their notified capacity is 594,000 gallons a day. Neither number appears in a record a citizen can search.

_Spot an error? Receipts welcome: tips@kingfish.la._

### Sources

-   Water well notification forms (DENR-GWR-01) and acknowledgment letters, Office of Permitting and Compliance, Department of Conservation and Energy: [well 40-0252](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0252.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) and [well 40-0253](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0253.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), filed March 31, 2026, acknowledged April 6, 2026 — pumping rates, depths, casings, and completion estimates quoted from the forms — and [well 40-0255](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-40-0255.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), acknowledged July 23, 2026.
-   Louisiana 811 locate tickets [260214966](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/la811-260214966.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) and [260214988](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/la811-260214988.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), called March 31, 2026, R.A.M. Drilling, LLC for Applied Digital.
-   [Email, The Kingfish Project and Nicole R. Hall, P.G., Department of Conservation and Energy groundwater office, August 5–7, 2026](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr-email.pdf?ref=kingfish.la), with [the office's spreadsheet of industrial wells in Rapides Parish](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/industrial-wells-rapides-parish.xlsx?ref=kingfish.la).
-   [LDEQ Memo to File and response package, AI 250709, Applied Digital Corporation – Delta Forge 1, May 26 – July 7, 2026](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/ldeq-ai250709-memo.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) (the dust citation and lime-slurry correction).
-   Kingfish Project aerial photographs, July 30, 2026, embedded above; well locations plotted from coordinates on the state notification forms.
-   [LAC 56:I.105](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/louisiana/La-Admin-Code-tit-56-SS-I-105?ref=kingfish.la) (driller registration) · [LAC 43:VI.701](https://regulations.justia.com/states/louisiana/title-43/part-vi/subpart-1/chapter-7/section-vi-701?ref=kingfish.la) (owner notification)
-   [LED release, May 26, 2026](https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/news/central-louisiana-secures-3-6-billion-applied-digital-ai-factory-campus?ref=kingfish.la) · [KALB fact-check, June 25, 2026](https://www.kalb.com/2026/06/25/fact-check-what-early-documents-confirm-about-applied-digitals-data-center-coming-rapides-parish/?ref=kingfish.la) (utility and cooling-fill figures, trade-secret withholding)
-   [Written responses from Applied Digital, provided through JSA, August 12, 2026](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_APLD_response.pdf?ref=kingfish.la) — full email exchange, private contact information redacted (completion dates, volume pumped, registration and notification answers quoted from it).
-   [SONRIS Water Wells Search, industrial wells completed in Rapides Parish, run August 12, 2026](https://media.kingfish.la/2026/08/gwr_SONRIS_Publication.png?ref=kingfish.la) — the screenshot embedded above.

---

## Citation formats

### BibTeX

```bibtex
@misc{kingfish-data-center-unregistered-wells,
  author = {Bentley Hensel},
  title = {Applied Digital has two unregistered water wells at its data center},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {The Kingfish Project},
  howpublished = {\url{https://kingfish.la/data-center-unregistered-wells/}},
  note = {Accessed: August 12, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0}
}
```

### CSL-JSON

```json
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    "id": "kingfish-data-center-unregistered-wells",
    "type": "article",
    "title": "Applied Digital has two unregistered water wells at its data center",
    "author": [
      {
        "literal": "Bentley Hensel"
      }
    ],
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026
        ]
      ]
    },
    "publisher": "The Kingfish Project",
    "URL": "https://kingfish.la/data-center-unregistered-wells/",
    "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
]
```