Texas Governor Directs State Board to Penalize Data Center Reporting Failures

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on September 14 directed the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to compel major water users, including data centers, to comply with water use reporting requirements and to impose legal consequences for those not doing so.

Texas is second to Virginia in operational data centers and is one of the fastest growing markets for those planned as well.

“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” Abbott says. “The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply.”

Abbott also directed on August 3 the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive audit of all data centers that advance through ERCOT’s interconnection process. That audit requires detailed information on water consumption, sources of water supply, and implementation of water-efficient technologies. Any data center project that fails to complete the audit process must be denied interconnection.

NGWA will hold a webinar titled “Data Centers and Groundwater: What NGWA Members Need to Know” at 1 p.m. ET on September 17. Click here to learn more and register.

The Association will also host a Data Centers, Groundwater, and Sustainable Water Management Forum on December 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Click here to learn more and register.

Click here to read NGWA’s position paper and other resources on data centers and groundwater.