Gov. Greg Abbott is directing the Texas Water Development Board to penalize data centers that have failed to comply with legally required water-use reporting, including through potential criminal referrals and permit disqualifications.
In a letter sent to TWDB Chairwoman L’Oreal Stepney and Executive Administrator Bryan McMath, Abbott said major water users, including data centers, “appear to have committed civil and criminal violations” by failing to provide information required under the Texas Water Code.
“I direct TWDB to use its statutory authority to compel major water users to comply with water use reporting requirements and to impose legal consequences for past and future failure to comply with state law,” wrote Abbott.
The Texas Water Development Board is responsible for developing the state’s water plan and uses surveys to collect information about existing and anticipated water consumption.
State law requires recipients of the survey to complete and return it. Responses to the Calendar Year 2025 survey were due March 1. Sources indicate roughly 80 percent of data centers required to provide the state with information about their water usage have failed to respond.
Abbott noted that failure to complete and return the survey constitutes an offense punishable as a crime under state law.
Those who fail to timely complete the survey are also ineligible to obtain certain water permits, permit amendments, or renewals from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Abbott directed TWDB to enforce those provisions against noncompliant data centers, including referring violations to the appropriate county or district attorney and notifying TCEQ about possible permit disqualification.
“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” Abbott said in a statement accompanying the directive. “The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply.”
The directive also expands Abbott’s ongoing scrutiny of data centers seeking to connect to the Texas electric grid.
In August, Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to conduct a comprehensive audit of data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process.
At the time, Abbott noted that ERCOT was considering approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the grid—more than five times the state’s record peak electricity demand—with data centers accounting for approximately 90 percent of the new requests.
That audit requires data centers to disclose information about their electricity and water consumption, sources of water supply, on-site power generation, and measures intended to reduce their impact on surrounding communities.
Projects that fail to comply with the audit can be denied connection to the Texas electric grid.
Abbott is now directing TWDB to coordinate with PUCT and ERCOT on the water portion of that audit, including information about water consumption, sources of supply, and the use of water-efficient technologies.
Any failure to provide the requested water-use information will trigger TWDB’s independent enforcement authority.
TWDB must provide Abbott’s office with an initial update on its enforcement efforts within 30 days and continue providing updates through completion of the data center audit.
