Texas Governor Directs Regulators to Penalize Datacenters Over Water Disclosure Failures

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed state regulators to penalize datacenters that fail to comply with state laws requiring them to disclose their water use, according to a statement reported by The Guardian.

"Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water," the Republican governor said on Monday, according to the report.

Abbott said the Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey from datacenters operating in the state. "The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey," he said. "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," he added.

The directive targets the Texas Water Development Board, the state agency responsible for overseeing water resources, and instructs it to use its enforcement authority against datacenters that have not met disclosure requirements.

Texas has faced ongoing concerns about drought conditions, and the growth of datacenters—which require significant amounts of water for cooling systems—has drawn scrutiny from state officials regarding resource management.

The Guardian reported that Abbott's directive applies both to past failures to comply with water use survey requirements and to any future non-compliance by datacenter operators in the state.