Paxton to investigate hundreds of Texas data centers over water use reporting - KCBD

The Texas Water Development Board is required by state law to survey entities that use ground water and surface water for municipal, industrial, power generation or mining purposes. Data centers fall under that requirement, and Paxton says a number of them across the state, including in Lubbock, Randall and Ector counties, have not turned in the paperwork. His office is now demanding all data centers in Texas provide accurate, up-to-date water usage information.

Data centers pull heavily on water for cooling their servers, which matters in a region where groundwater already runs tight. Lubbock sits on the edge of the Ogallala Aquifer, a resource neighbors here have watched shrink for decades, so any large industrial water user skipping a state-mandated report draws attention fast. This isn't a local zoning fight or a city council vote, it's a state attorney general stepping in to enforce reporting law already on the books.

For people here, the investigation is less about immediate water restrictions and more about accountability. If Lubbock's data centers have been dodging the survey, Paxton's office wants that fixed, and the outcome could shape how much scrutiny future data center projects face before they break ground.

A server farm can guzzle water nobody sees until the state starts asking hard questions about who's using it and how much.