Paxton Tells 156 Data Centers in 32 Counties to Report Their Water Use — Bexar County Included
The Attorney General's office has written to 156 data center developments, Bexar County among them, demanding up-to-date water-use figures, as state planners say they still cannot say how much water the sector uses.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has written to 156 data center developments in 32 counties telling them they must provide up-to-date and accurate information about their water usage, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune carried this week. The counties stretch from the Dallas and Austin areas to the Rio Grande Valley and the Permian Basin, and they include Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Travis and Bexar — which puts San Antonio-area facilities inside the sweep.
The letters, announced on October 15, follow an investigation the Attorney General's office opened in September and add a legal track to Governor Greg Abbott's September order directing the Texas Water Development Board to enforce a reporting duty that already exists in state law. Under section 16.012(m) of the Texas Water Code, large water users must complete and return the board's survey each year, with returns due March 1. Abbott's September 14 letter told the board to compel major users, including data centers, to report, and on September 21 he ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt permits sought by data centers until an Electric Reliability Council of Texas audit is complete; the commission said on October 19 that it had paused all such permits.
"Data center developers must follow the law and respect the Texans and communities affected by their operations," Paxton said in the announcement, as published. "I am actively investigating data centers across Texas to make sure that Texans and our natural resources are protected." The office has not released the letters or the recipients' names, and its announcement cites no specific response deadline.
The state's own records show why planners are pressing. According to TWDB records analyzed by the Tribune, the number of data centers sent the survey rose from 22 in 2023 to 329 last year, while the response rate stayed at roughly 30 percent or below; the 97 facilities that answered last year reported a combined 1.4 billion gallons, a figure covering respondents only. Of the 334 data center facilities in the board's records for 2020 to 2025, 233 never submitted a survey. The board has said it lacked the data to include data center water use in the projections for the 2027 State Water Plan, which looks 50 years ahead.
The tools behind the letters are limited, the Tribune's analysis notes. Failing to return the survey is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, and any increase would need new legislation when the Legislature returns in January 2027. Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network, told the Tribune that data centers are generally not eligible for the state funding officials have threatened to withhold: "There's nothing the board can withhold from them." The TCEQ has also said the state cannot revoke or suspend permits already issued over a missing survey.
