Take a look around most places in Carbon and Schuylkill counties, and it’s easy to see the scars of a way of life that fueled the nation’s future.

Empty pits — some filled with water — sit amid black mounds of coal waste.

Streams run orange, tainted by acidic mine drainage flowing from underground workings where our ancestors built a life.

The behemoth coal breakers are gone — the material they prepared to fuel the nation’s industrial revolution long since replaced by cleaner, more affordable sources. And the environmental liabilities that mining left behind are ours to deal with.

But what if we could turn those liabilities — at least some of them — into assets?

For months now, we’ve all been hearing about the proliferation of data centers — those large, humming water-using buildings housing computer servers — that will aid in cloud computing and promote artificial intelligence.

All across the country, these data centers are popping up. Competition is stiff, and in many places, so is opposition.

Everywhere, people are up in arms about purported increases in electric costs.

An aging grid system and lack of generation capacity plagues the nation and updating both isn’t cheap.

Then, there’s water.

Data centers by design need enormous amounts of cooling to prevent servers from overheating.

Traditionally, it could involve air conditioning, evaporative cooling or fresh water in a closed-loop.

In our area, there may be something else in the form of acid mine drainage, the toxic cocktail that pollutes streams, kills aquatic life and burdens taxpayers with the costs of cleanup.

We can’t drink it, nothing can live in it, but we’re forced to deal with it.

At places like the Lausanne Tunnel near Nesquehoning and the Quakake Tunnel in Packer Township, mine drainage flows at the rate of thousands of gallons every day.

Despite all the money we’ve spent to remedy that. The water is still full of metals, still acidic and still flowing.

Let’s flip the thinking and use the water for business, industry and data centers.

One thing about mine drainage is constant.

It flows — all year round — at relatively stable temperatures that could be the answer to the computer cooling question. It’s a strategy change that could pay off in myriad ways.

The technology to clean the water exists. Doing it has benefits for all involved. It could help with remediating existing mine sites and at the same time reduce demand on local fresh water sources.

It may even create jobs involving water treatment and system maintenance. And maybe it could draw investments to local municipalities trying to reinvent themselves from the days when coal was king.

Locally, there’s a competitive edge to make that happen. Sites like the Lausanne Tunnel already have treatment systems in place, though they may need upgrades. Work at the Quakake Tunnel, which empties into Wetzel Creek, is helping Weatherly develop its connection to the D&L Trail along the Lehigh River.

Sites like the data center proposed for the Panther Creek facility in Nesquehoning aren’t far away. The same might be said for two parcels atop Spring Mountain in Packer and Banks townships regarding proximity to Wetzel Creek.

Seasonal air temperatures in the area reduce the need for cooling demand as compared to data centers proposed in warmer climates.

There’s also land available, though it’s beginning to dwindle as more and more developers snatch it up.

Of course, all this comes with some obstacles.

Plans and the commitment to treating mine drainage need to be robust and reliable to meet state and federal environmental standards.

A major part would be earning the public’s trust that the commitment to cleaner water would continue.

With the huge amounts of money developers are dedicating to the centers and the federal and state funding available for long-term treatment options, ways of treating mine drainage are perhaps more sustainable than ever.

Think about it.

The same tunnels that helped fuel an industrial revolution could cool computers that power a digital age. The orange-colored creeks that once carried contamination could run cleaner with innovation. And a region once tainted by the blackness of coal dust could have a brighter, smarter future.

The idea can hold water. All the pieces are here.

Moving forward, what’s needed is the foresight and fortitude to put them all together.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 40 years’ experience in community journalism. .

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.