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By Luis Montoya
WESLACO, Texas — State Rep. Erin Elizabeth Gámez pressed top water planning officials Monday on whether the explosive growth of data centers across Texas is adequately accounted for in the state’s long-term water blueprints.
During a hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources held Aug. 24 at Weslaco City Hall, Gámez questioned Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for planning at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), over concerns that high-consumption facilities—some potentially utilizing up to 4.6 million gallons of water daily—risk outpacing current regional strategies.
Gámez, D-Brownsville, pointed out that the current state water plan lacks specific projections for the burgeoning data center industry.
“Those issues were not addressed today and don’t seem to have been incorporated into our plan,” Gámez told Nelson during the hearing. “So, if for whatever reason one of these centers are successful in coming down (to the Rio Grande Valley) how is that going to impact the plan that you’ve just discussed here?”
Nelson acknowledged that the active state water plan does not explicitly call out data centers as a standalone category, though he noted existing operations were historically baked into broader manufacturing and municipal demand projections.
However, Nelson told the committee that the agency is actively adapting to the industry’s rapid expansion. The TWDB is separating data center water use into a distinct sub-sector within the manufacturing category for upcoming planning cycles, utilizing new data sources including Public Utility Commission (PUC) surveys and power demand projections from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
“We are actually separating out into a separate manufacturing sub-sector, data center water use in our water use survey,” Nelson said. “So we’re collecting that very specifically with the intent of helping us better project for the next plan.”
Nelson explained that capturing accurate projections remains challenging due to the fast-moving nature of the industry, a five-year planning cycle, and the proprietary nature of private development.
“All the projections are going to be wrong. I’ll just say that,” Nelson told lawmakers. “Just are they going to be credible and are they realistic and are they meaningfully close to what may happen?”
Nelson added that draft methodologies for data center projections are currently being developed internally and will soon be shared with regional water planning groups for local review and modification.
Gámez stressed that given the immense resource demands of these facilities, the public expects greater foresight and transparency from state agencies and the Legislature.
“This is such a sensitive issue that the public is in dire need of protection,” Gámez said. “I think this is something that is incumbent upon us as a legislature to ensure that there is transparency in these applications now that these operations are ratcheting up.”
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