AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott directed state water regulators to penalize data centers that failed to respond to a recent inquiry into their water usage. More than 70% of data centers in Texas broke the law by failing to respond to a state-ordered survey of their water usage, authorities at the Texas Water Development Board said recently. The survey went out to more than 300 data centers. ...

Greg Abbott speaks during a news conference in the Stockyards on July 29, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Elvis Martinez-Cartagena/Star-Telegram/TNS

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott directed state water regulators to penalize data centers that failed to respond to a recent inquiry into their water usage.

More than 70% of data centers in Texas broke the law by failing to respond to a state-ordered survey of their water usage, authorities at the Texas Water Development Board said recently. The survey went out to more than 300 data centers.

Now, Abbott wants those data centers to face civil or criminal penalties.

"Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water," Abbott said in a statement indicating he had directed the Water Development Board to "use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply."

Data center water use has become a potent political issue in this year's election cycle in rural communities. The lack of information has underscored concerns about transparency from data center developers and fed public mistrust.

Abbott said that data centers' failure to respond hampered the Water Development Board's ability to create plans for state water consumption — one of the chief tasks for the agency. The Houston Advanced Research Center estimated in January that data center water consumption could rise to about 161 billion gallons in 2030 — about 82% of Lewisville Lake's capacity.

In a letter to the board, Abbott ordered the agency to seek civil and criminal penalties for data center companies found to have violated the law. Civil penalties could include automatic denial of permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

At a Sept. 1 hearing, Temple McKinnon, water supply planning director at the Water Development Board, said that enforcing the laws related to water use inquiries would be up to local prosecutors, including county and district attorneys.

Abbott ordered the Water Development Board to refer violators to local authorities.

The Water Development Board conducted its inquiry alongside a separate survey from the Texas Public Utility Commission, which regulates electricity usage. Authorities from that agency said less than half of the data centers they contacted responded.

Abbott once embraced data centers. He cheered the state's rise as the "epicenter of AI development" in November, vowing that Texas "must ensure that America remains at the forefront of the AI revolution, and Texas is the place where that can happen" during an event marking $40 billion of investment by Google into AI infrastructure in the state.

But as political support has frayed in rural, Republican strongholds, Abbott's attitude changed.

He ordered a moratorium on data center construction in August, halting any permit approvals for new centers seeking to connect to the state's stand-alone power grid until an audit is completed.

"Simply put, Texans must come first," said in a statement following the announcement of the moratorium.

Abbott now wants the Water Development Board to join the audit effort being headed by the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT.

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