Google has announced a $10 million investment into a Water Preservation fund for Texas. As data centers continue to pop up all over the state, concerns regarding the use of the precious resource for cooling purposes leave local residents troubled.
“Data centers are the nerve of the digital world,” according to Google. “As we grow our data center footprint to support these services, we recognize that how we build is just as important as what we build.”
Water cooling methods involved in data centers reportedly reduce energy consumption by 10 percent. This allows the AI technology housed inside to be more cost effective and largely available in the hands of many consumers. Despite the immense amount of water being used, Google claims that “U.S. data centers use less than 1% of the water that Americans use on their lawns annually.”
Google has made five public commitments to Texans to “manage vital water resources where we build and operate data centers.” These commitments are to:
- Replenish more water than data centers consume.
- Help to modernize water and wastewater infrastructure in communities.
- Protect at-risk watersheds with air-cooled solutions.
- Report annual water usage.
- Pursue alternative and reclaimed water solutions to protect water resources.
In addition to the $10 million investment into the Water Impact fund, Gov. Greg Abbott announced last November that Google is slated to invest an additional $40 billion in Texas as a part of its “Investing in America” initiative.
“Google’s $40 billion investment makes Texas Google’s largest investment in any state in the country and supports energy efficiency and workforce development in our state,” said Abbott.
However, no one knows just how much water data centers are using across the state. The Texas Water Development Board uses self-reported survey data to attempt to accurately portray the water data centers are using. In 2024, TWDB sent out 70 surveys to attempt to account for groundwater and surface water usage in data centers. Only 18 recipients responded.
Traditionally, data centers are required to respond, but failure to do so results in a fine of $500 or less, amounting to less than a slap on the wrist for large corporations.
The Texas House Committee on Natural Resources is holding a hearing on June 23 to discuss data center water use and conservation.
