AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers raised concerns over the lack of reliable data on water use by data centers during a recent House Natural Resources Committee hearing, saying the information gap could hinder the state’s long-term water planning as the industry expands.
Committee members said most data centers surveyed by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) failed to report their water use despite a legal requirement to do so.
State Rep. Cody Harris, the committee’s chairman, said the rapid growth of data centers has increased public concern over their demand for water and electricity.
Harris criticized companies that, he said, declined to discuss their operations with communities or lawmakers. He said representatives from Diode Ventures and Calypso refused invitations to testify before the committee.
Harris said data centers use different cooling technologies, resulting in varying levels of water consumption. Some facilities rely on evaporative cooling systems that require significant amounts of water, while others use closed-loop or air-cooling systems that reduce direct water use but may increase electricity demand.
Temple McKinnon, water supply planning director for the TWDB, told lawmakers the agency’s survey records the total amount of water entering a facility but does not collect detailed information on how individual facilities use water.
McKinnon also said the agency cannot link a data center’s electricity consumption to the water used by power plants that supply the electric grid.
The TWDB identified 341 data centers in its 2025 survey, up from 22 facilities in 2023. At the time of the hearing, about 17% of the surveyed facilities had submitted responses.
According to McKinnon, 98% of responding facilities purchased water from public water systems, while about 2% relied on self-supplied sources. Of the reported water use, about 89% came from surface water sources and about 8% came from groundwater.
Lawmakers questioned whether the low response rate affected the state’s long-term water planning.
State Rep. Brad Buckley asked whether the TWDB used the survey data in preparing the state water plan, which projects Texas’ water supply and demand over the next 50 years.
McKinnon said the agency uses the survey along with other information, including municipal water sales, historical consumption records and commercial databases, to estimate water use when facilities do not respond.
Texas law requires data centers to complete the survey. Failure to comply may result in a Class C misdemeanor. McKinnon said the TWDB does not enforce the reporting requirement, adding that enforcement would fall to local prosecutors or another government authority.
Harris said lawmakers could consider stronger disclosure and enforcement measures during the next legislative session.
The committee also discussed groundwater regulation in areas without groundwater conservation districts.
State Rep. Trent Ashby asked whether a data center in a county without a groundwater conservation district could drill a well and pump groundwater without local regulation.
McKinnon said no entity would regulate groundwater withdrawals in those areas.
Ashby said unrestricted groundwater pumping by large facilities could affect nearby homes, farms and public water systems that rely on the same aquifers.
Texas projects increasing water shortages in the coming decades because of population growth, drought, aquifer depletion and declining reservoir capacity. Lawmakers said the state needs more complete information on data center water use to better assess the industry’s impact on future water supplies.
