Texas leaders are asking data centers how much water they use. Most aren’t responding.
Texas state officials are seeking data on water and energy consumption from data centers across the state via a survey, but have received a low response rate from companies. This lack of transparency is hindering efforts by lawmakers to make informed policy decisions regarding the growing industry's impact on resources. Gov. Greg Abbott has issued directives and recommendations for legislative action to ensure infrastructure costs are not passed to consumers and to require more efficient water use.
Texas state leaders are struggling to gather essential data on water and energy consumption from data centers operating within the state, as a survey sent to companies by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has seen a response rate of less than one-third. At a recent legislative hearing in Austin, Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, criticized the low participation, calling it "pathetic" and questioning the reliability of policy decisions based on incomplete information. State officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, are attempting to increase oversight on the rapidly expanding data center industry, which has seen over 248 proposed projects challenging Virginia's dominance in the sector.
Communities and some state officials have expressed significant concern over the industry's resource demands, particularly water usage in a drought-prone state. Gov. Abbott has directed public utilities to ensure data center infrastructure costs are not transferred to consumers and recommended legislative action requiring data centers to use more efficient water recirculation systems for cooling. While companies like Google are committing to air-cooled, closed-loop systems, the overall industry response to mandatory and non-mandatory surveys remains low, with penalties for non-compliance being minimal. Dan Diorio, Vice President of State Policy with the Data Center Coalition, attributed the low response to companies' need to protect proprietary information, suggesting that aggregated and anonymized data might encourage higher participation.