Texas governor threatens to penalize datacenters not obeying water laws
Republican Greg Abbott says datacenters must help ‘protect’ drought-prone state and disclose water use
TL;DR
- Texas Governor Greg Abbott is demanding data centers disclose their water usage.
- Regulators are directed to penalize data centers that fail to comply with state water use laws.
- Texas is experiencing a boom in data centers, becoming a major hub in the US.
- Data centers in Texas consumed an estimated 25 billion gallons of water in 2025, with potential to rise significantly by 2030.
- Data centers that fail an audit on water consumption, sources, and efficiency efforts will be denied connection to the state's power grid.