Texas is building dozens of massive data centers, putting more pressure on an increasingly urgent water crisis. The state currently has more than 400 data center facilities, with about 70 more on the way.
Earlier in 2025, the Trump administration announced a $500 billion federal push to build AI data centers and supporting power infrastructure in Texas, but without smarter cooling systems, it could come at a steep cost price to Texans, intensifying water scarcity, forcing homes and farms to compete with data centers and disturbing aquatic biodiversity.
The Houston Advanced Research Center, an independent nonprofit research organization focusing on sustainability solutions, estimates that existing data centers in Texas will consume approximately 25 billion gallons of water, or 0.4 percent of the state’s total water use in 2025. That’s the equivalent water consumption of 1.3 million average U.S. households.
These massive facilities that keep data require electricity to power the data centers and cooling systems to keep their equipment from malfunctioning. And both of those require water.
Data centers use water in to directly cool equipment, and indirectly, through the electricity they rely on. According to research, the current Texas data center market requires 10.234 megawatts each year – the equivalent to more than 8 million home’s usage a month. The state currently has more than 400 data center facilities, with about 70 more to come.
Data centers are expected to help drive Texas’ power demand to nearly double by 2030, as well as increasing the demand for water up to at least 2.7 percent of the total annual water use in Texas.
The current state water planning process is built on historical data, with longterm projections relying on past usage trends and reported water use that have no relation to the extensive growth in population and business growth, particularly as related to data centers.
Experts warn this model can leave the state’s water supply extremely vulnerable. With no uniform method for reporting or tracking data center water usage, the Texas Water Development Board will be unable to accurately predict their future impact on an increasingly critical natural resource – particularly in the Texas’ arid regions.
In 2024, the state water board attempted to get information on data centers’ water consumption by sending surveys to nearly 70 data centers asking how much ground and surface water they used each month and who was supplying that water to them.
Even though a response was required by state law, only one-third of them responded. Texas law requires large load consumers, including data centers, to consult with the state’s main grid operator and provide details on their power requirement and if projects are planned where the grid is already challenged. But the consequence for noncompliance is minimal and incurs only a Class C misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $500.
Texas Panhandle residents in Amarillo recently held a community event to oppose five planned data centers and inform others of the potential risks to the Ogallala Aquifer, the region’s main water source that is being drained faster than it can be replenished.
In Texas, many data centers are located within areas where water supplies already are under high stress and the environmental burden, according to researchers, with water usage restrictions often placed on residents.