Texas Data Center Boom Could Consume Up to 161 Billion Gallons Of Water Annually By 2030

HARC’s white paper warns that current state water planning creates a “blind spot” for the rapidly growing industry; calls for transparency and modernized forecasting to protect Texas resources.

HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center) released a new white paper today revealing the significant and largely unaccounted-for pressure that the rapid expansion of data centers places on Texas’ water resources.

The physical backbone of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and modern commerce, data centers are surging in Texas. Though the energy demands of these facilities have garnered mainstream attention, HARC’s paper brings a critical, under-discussed issue into focus: their massive water footprint.

The report, Thirsty Data and the Lone Star State: The Impact of Data Center Growth on Texas’ Water Supply, indicates that without modernized planning and policy updates, the state faces a collision between finite water supplies and one of the world’s most resource-intensive industries.

“Texas is no stranger to industrial booms, having ridden waves of oil, gas, and manufacturing. But the data center surge presents a unique challenge that requires immediate attention,” said John Hall, President and CEO of HARC. “Our analysis makes one fact unavoidable: When we talk about data centers, we must talk about water. We have a rare window to shape how this industry grows and how Texas prospers. We can either plan now with foresight and transparency, or we will be forced to react later with our backs to the wall.”

Key findings from the white paper:

• Current State: Existing data centers in Texas consume an estimated 25 billion gallons of water annually for electricity generation and cooling systems.
• 2030 Outlook: By 2030, that figure could rise to between 29 and 161 billion gallons per year, potentially representing up to 2.7% of the state’s total water use.
• Planning Gaps: The Texas State Water Plan, the primary tool for funding water infrastructure, relies largely on historical data. Consequently, it does not currently account for the forward-looking growth of data centers, leaving local communities to manage water security without adequate state-level support.

“Texas’ water planning process has a structural blind spot,” said Dr. Margaret Cook, HARC’s Vice President of Water and Community Resilience and the paper’s primary author. “ERCOT has begun developing processes to manage large load interconnections for energy, but no parallel process exists for water planning. This leaves utilities and city managers to negotiate individually with multinational technology firms, often without the data or leverage necessary to protect local resources and residents.”

The paper outlines a roadmap for turning this challenge into an opportunity for state leadership. Recommendations include requiring large industrial users to report expected water and electricity use, integrating forward-looking forecasting into the State Water Plan, and incentivizing “water-lean” technologies such as dry cooling and brackish water reuse.

“The resource footprint of data centers is not a future challenge; it is already here,” said Cook. “By requiring transparency, incentivizing efficiency, and prioritizing alternative water supplies, Texas can accommodate the digital economy without compromising the reliability and affordability of resources for its residents.”

To read the full analysis and recommendations, download the white paper at Thirsty Data and the Lone Star State: The Impact of Data Center Growth on Texas’ Water Supply.

Read Dr. Cook’s accompanying blog at Thirsty Data: The Hidden Water and Energy Costs of Texas’ Data Center Boom.