Water provisions in Rowan data center contract survive planned termination, may allow for large water use
Rowan Digital Infrastructure plans to terminate its economic development agreement with the City of Temple for the Moriah Project, which was originally a data center now transitioning to a warehouse. However, key water provisions in the 2022 contract, allowing for significant daily water usage, are set to survive the termination. This has sparked concerns from community groups like Don't Drain Texas and Temple Stands Together, who are seeking answers from city officials regarding the contract's ongoing implications.
Rowan Digital Infrastructure intends to terminate its economic development agreement, known as a Chapter 380 agreement, with the City of Temple, Texas, for the Moriah Project. This project, initially a 500-megawatt multi-tenant data center, is now being repurposed into a warehouse after its sole tenant, bitcoin mining company Rhodium Enterprises, departed following bankruptcy in late 2024.
Despite Rowan's stated plan to terminate the agreement, several critical provisions related to water usage are stipulated to survive the contract's end. These include commitments from the City of Temple to provide up to 350,000 gallons of potable water and 830,000 gallons of raw water daily from the Temple Synergy Well. Community groups, including Don't Drain Texas and Temple Stands Together, led by Maggie Hill and Sarah Royer respectively, have voiced strong opposition to these surviving clauses, highlighting a discrepancy with prior city statements that the data center's water usage would be capped at 4,000 gallons per day. Royer also noted that her public records requests to the city regarding the contract have gone unanswered.
City spokesperson Nohely Mackowiak has stated that such survival provisions are common and address matters like water and wastewater services. Mackowiak further claims that since the project did not develop as anticipated, the agreement is "void and no longer effective," relieving the city of obligations to provide water or wastewater services. However, the contract itself does not include a clause for automatic voidance based on a change in facility use, and amendments require mutual written consent and City Council approval. Rowan spokesperson Nathaniel Brown confirmed that Rowan is working with the city for mutual termination of the Chapter 380 agreement and plans for this by the end of Q4 2026, adding that Rowan has no plans to use the water allocation. The city has not confirmed any plans to amend the agreement to terminate these surviving clauses.