Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board on Sept. 14 to compel major water users, including data centers, to comply with state water use reporting requirements and to impose legal consequences for past and future failures to do so.
In a Sept. 14 news release, the governor’s office said major water users, including data centers, appear to have committed civil and criminal violations by failing to provide the TWDB with required information about their water usage. Abbott also directed the board to partner with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on ERCOT’s audit of data centers in order to seek additional water use information.
“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” said Abbott. “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.”
The release noted that the board is charged with developing a state water plan that meets the needs of Texans, a task the governor’s office said it cannot perform if it is denied detailed information on existing and anticipated water consumption. Under the Texas Water Code, recipients of a TWDB survey must complete and return it, and a data center that fails to do so commits an offense punishable as a crime. A data center that does not return the survey on time is also ineligible for permits, amendments or renewals from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Chapter 11 of the code.
Abbott directed the board to enforce those remedies against noncompliant data centers, including referring cases to the appropriate county or district attorney and notifying TCEQ for possible permit disqualification.
The directive builds on an Aug. 3 order in which Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to conduct a comprehensive audit of all data centers that advance through ERCOT’s interconnection process, according to the release. That audit requires detailed information on water consumption, sources of water supply and the implementation of water-efficient technologies, and any project that fails to complete it must be denied interconnection.
The governor’s office said the TWDB must coordinate with the PUCT and ERCOT, and that a failure to respond to the audit request will trigger the board’s independent enforcement authority.
Abbott’s letter was addressed to TWDB Chairwoman L’Oreal Stepney and Executive Administrator Bryan McMath. The board is to update the governor’s office on the progress of its enforcement activities by Oct. 14, with further updates to follow, including when the audit is complete.