Texas Governor Tells Data Centres to Report Their Water Use or Pay the Price

Key points

• Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive on Monday requiring data centres to comply with state water-use disclosure laws.
• Abbott ordered the Texas Water Development Board, the state agency that manages water resources, to penalise data centres that have already failed to report.
• The directive covers both past failures and any future non-compliance.
• Texas faces persistent drought conditions, making water supply a serious ongoing concern for the state.

Greg Abbott put Texas data centres on notice this week: report your water use, or pay for it.

The Republican governor issued a public directive on Monday telling the Texas Water Development Board, the state agency that oversees water planning and resources, to use its enforcement powers against data centres that haven't filed the water-use surveys required under the Texas Water Code.

"Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water," Abbott said, making clear the crackdown covers past violations, not just future ones. He also directed the board to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply.

Why does a data centre use water in the first place?

Data centres use enormous amounts of water to cool the servers inside them. Cooling towers and chillers cycle water constantly to stop the hardware from overheating. A large facility can consume millions of gallons a year, roughly on par with a small town.

Texas is already under pressure. The state has faced repeated droughts, and competition for water between cities and agriculture is fierce. Knowing how much each big user draws from the system matters for planning future supply.

The Texas Water Code already requires any significant water user to complete an annual survey. These aren't new rules. Abbott's directive tells regulators to actually enforce them against data centres that have been quietly ignoring the requirement.

What does this mean for people in Texas?

For most residents, the immediate effect is indirect. Better data means state planners can make smarter decisions about reservoirs and drought restrictions. If a data centre is drawing heavily from a local supply, communities nearby deserve to know.

For companies building and running these facilities, the message is blunt. Disclosure isn't optional. The AI boom has driven a wave of data centre construction across Texas, and those buildings carry a water footprint that state officials clearly want on record. Our 28 August story on politicians turning against data centres showed the electricity cost of these facilities is already fuelling public anger; water is now the second front.

The practical catch is real: enforcement only works if the Texas Water Development Board actually follows through. Abbott has directed it to act, but penalty timing and scale depend on the agency.

First reported by The Guardian, Abbott's directive didn't name specific companies or set a new compliance deadline. The legal framework is already in force. Regulators now have explicit political instruction to use it.

For anyone living near a data centre campus in Texas, the disclosure reports, once filed, become public records. They'll tell a clear story about who is using what.