The Texas Attorney General is investigating hundreds of data center developments that have not answered the state's water-use survey. The first wave covers 18 counties, from Harris and Dallas to Lubbock, Potter and Randall. The state has not named the developments involved, and the investigation concerns reporting, not a finding that anyone used water illegally.

AUSTIN, Texas — Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the investigation Sept. 24. His office says it is looking into data center developments that have not responded to the Texas Water Development Board's water use survey, and calls the effort ongoing and statewide. "My office is currently investigating hundreds of data center developments to ensure that they are transparent about their water usage and fully compliant with the law," Paxton said.

HOW WE GOT HERE

  • Aug. 3. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to audit data centers moving through ERCOT's interconnection process. The audit requires detailed information on water consumption, water sources and water-efficient technology, and a project that fails it must be denied interconnection, according to the governor's office.
  • Sept. 14. Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to penalize past failures and any future failure to return the water survey, to refer failures to county or district attorneys, and to notify the state environmental agency. He asked for a progress update by Oct. 14.
  • Sept. 21. Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to halt all permits sought by data centers until ERCOT completes its audit, saying no state agency should move forward with regulatory approvals related to data center development until that information is acquired. TCEQ is to update the governor's office by Oct. 19.
  • Sept. 24. Paxton announced the Attorney General's investigation.

THE 18 COUNTIES, BY REGION

According to the Attorney General's announcement, as published by KCBD, EverythingLubbock and the Fort Worth Report:

Houston areaHarris, Montgomery
Dallas-Fort WorthDallas, Tarrant
Central TexasTravis (Austin), Brazos (Bryan-College Station)
East TexasSmith (Tyler)
South Texas and Gulf CoastBexar (San Antonio), Nueces (Corpus Christi), Victoria
Rolling PlainsWichita (Wichita Falls)
West Texas and Permian BasinTom Green (San Angelo), Midland, Ector (Odessa), El Paso
Panhandle and South Plains (806 area code)Lubbock, Potter and Randall (both include Amarillo)

The announcement lists counties, not companies or projects. The Fort Worth Report noted that it does not say which Tarrant County data centers are involved; developments planned or in progress there include facilities from Black Mountain, Edged Data Centers and Circle T.

WHAT THE SURVEY IS, AND WHAT THE LAW SAYS

TWDB surveys entities that use groundwater or surface water for municipal, industrial, power generation or mining purposes, to support state and regional water planning. Texas Policy Research reports TWDB surveys about 8,000 water systems and industrial facilities a year. The survey is due March 1 each year. TWDB says it is meant to collect data from operational facilities, "not planned or under construction."

Under Texas Water Code Section 16.012, as TWDB describes it:

  • A person who fails to timely return the survey is not eligible for TWDB funding and cannot get permits, permit amendments or permit renewals from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Chapter 11.
  • A person who fails to complete and return the survey commits a Class C misdemeanor.

WHO ENFORCES IT

TWDB has said it does not have authority to prosecute because it is a non-regulatory agency, the Texas Tribune reported. Enforcement lies with local officials such as district attorneys. When the Tribune asked in July how many fines had been issued, agency officials said staff does not track that information.

HOW MANY DATA CENTERS ANSWER

Reported response rates vary by year and by when they were measured. TWDB's director of water supply planning told lawmakers in June that only 17% of data centers responded to the 2025 survey, KUT reported, and that the number of data centers surveyed rose from 22 in 2023 to 341 in 2025. The Texas Tribune reported Sept. 14 that as few as 28% of data centers have responded to the survey over the last three years. TWDB releases compliance information only by public information request.

WHY WATER

Data centers can consume millions of gallons of water a year to cool their equipment, the Tribune reported, and public information on how much is often hard to find. Designs vary. Companies describe closed-loop systems that recirculate water. Those are company statements, and they are not what the survey measures. It collects what a facility actually uses.

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW

  • Which developments. No official statement or published report we have found names a specific facility as being under investigation.
  • How many are in each county, or whether any named county has a development that actually failed to respond.
  • What stage they are in. The survey is for operating facilities; the announcement says "developments."
  • Whether the investigation will produce findings, penalties or referrals.

IN THE 806: LUBBOCK AND AMARILLO

Three of the 18 counties are in the 806 area code: Lubbock, Potter and Randall. Potter and Randall counties include Amarillo.

LUBBOCK

EverythingLubbock reported the investigation covers developments "including one in Lubbock," and KCBD reported it includes "data centers in Lubbock, Randall and Ector County." Neither story names a facility, and neither do we.

Public reporting describes two Lubbock proposals; no source we have read ties either to the survey investigation.

  • Project Infrared. In June, the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA) approved an agreement with the company Corva for a 50,000-square-foot inference data center near Municipal Drive and Guava, KCBD reported July 30. LEDA's president said it would start at 6 megawatts, with a maximum of 27. Corva said it would use about 1,500 gallons of water a day with closed-loop cooling. LEDA said the project still needs an interconnection with Lubbock Power & Light to get power from the state grid.
  • The 936-acre proposal. In January, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted against, four of seven, a rezoning request from Texas Solar Works for 936 acres off Northeast Loop 289 for a hyperscale data center. LEDA's president said the developer then withdrew the request "for now" and planned to adjust and resubmit, KCBD reported.

On Sept. 22, the Lubbock City Council voted 5-2 on a resolution to begin the process toward a 90-day moratorium on large-scale data centers. City planning staff are to draft guidelines on water use, power reliability, zoning, noise and lighting, and a work session with experts is to be scheduled within 90 days, KCBD reported.

Lubbock's water, by the numbers (City of Lubbock presentation, July 7, 2026):

  • Supply capacity: 71.35 million gallons a day (MGD): 27.7 Roberts County wellfield, 5.7 Lake Meredith, 20 Lake Alan Henry, 18 Bailey County wellfield. (The parts are rounded.)
  • Average demand: 36.51 MGD (34.8 MGD remaining). Peak demand: 50.19 MGD (21.16 MGD remaining). Used in 2025: 13.3 billion gallons.
  • Today: 61.1% groundwater, 38.9% surface water. After Lake 7 (12 MGD firm yield, targeted for 2032): 58% surface, 42% groundwater.
  • For "large-scale," the City suggested for discussion 100 megawatts or more of electricity and/or 100,000 gallons of water a day, for a facility primarily serving off-site users.
  • Our arithmetic from the City's figures: Corva's stated 1,500 gallons a day is about 0.004% of Lubbock's average demand; the City's 110,000-gallon-a-day "imaginary data center" example is about 0.3%. Those are shares of average citywide demand only. No water figure has been published for the 936-acre proposal in the reports we reviewed.

AMARILLO AREA

Potter and Randall counties are on the list. The release does not name a facility there either. Two much larger projects in the 806 sit in counties that are not on the Attorney General's initial list, and no source we have read ties either to the survey investigation:

  • Project Matador (Carson County, near Amarillo). Fermi America is building a campus next to the Pantex plant that ABC 7 Amarillo says is billed as the largest data center in the world. The City of Amarillo said in October 2025 it was not a City project but had discussed infrastructure and utility services. On Oct. 28, 2025, the Amarillo City Council voted to authorize a water supply agreement with Fermi for up to 2.5 million gallons a day, with Fermi paying twice the commercial rate inside the city, according to the Amarillo Tribune. In March 2026, Spectrum News reported the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave final approval to the campus's air permit at the end of February, over opposition from some residents. The Amarillo Tribune reported Sept. 30 that the project is still under construction and that Fermi used around 300,000 gallons of Amarillo's water in all of July.
  • Project Caprock (Hale County, near Abernathy). Aligned Data Centers announced April 9 a 540-megawatt, 313-acre campus of six facilities, with the first expected in service in the first quarter of 2027. Aligned says its closed-loop cooling recirculates the same water and will not compete with the community's agricultural or residential water needs.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

  • Oct. 14. TWDB's progress update on enforcement is due to the governor's office.
  • Oct. 19. TCEQ's update on the data center permit halt is due to the governor's office. Abbott also said he will work with the Legislature next session to eliminate financial incentives for data centers.
  • Ongoing. The Attorney General calls the investigation ongoing. The 18-county list is described as the initial group.
  • The power-grid audit. Data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process must provide water information or be denied interconnection.
  • March 1. The next annual water-use survey is due. TWDB says the 2026 online application closed July 1, and past-due surveys can be filed by PDF.
  • Lubbock. The City Council work session on data center impacts is to be scheduled within 90 days of Sept. 22.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE

  • Check your county on the list above. If it isn't there, that only means it isn't in the first group.
  • TWDB releases survey compliance information by public information request, the Tribune reported.
  • Ask your city or county what data center projects have been proposed, and whether they have filed the survey. We'd like to hear what you learn.
  • If you have a public record, a meeting notice or a document about a data center project in Texas, send it to us through our tip page. We will update this story when officials name the developments involved or release results.

SOURCES

Correction (Oct. 3, 2026): An earlier version gave Sept. 23 as the date of the Lubbock City Council vote. The vote was Sept. 22, according to the City of Lubbock agenda; KCBD's report ran Sept. 23.

— 806 Connect

Last updated: Oct. 3, 2026.

Photo: file photo; not a Lubbock facility.