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# Texas Orders Data-Center Water Reporting Crackdown
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-texas-2026-09-18-b/
- Published: 2026-09-18T12:46:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-18T12:46:53.000Z
- Description: Texas has ordered a crackdown on data centers that ignore water-use surveys, with possible criminal referrals and permit consequences. The first enforcement update is due October 14, alongside tighter grid audits.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, Texas

Texas is moving from requesting data-center water reports to threatening enforcement against facilities that do not file them. Gov. Greg Abbott on September 14 [directed the Texas Water Development Board](https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-directs-twdb-to-penalize-data-center-reporting-failures?ref=theamericanquorum.com) to pursue past and future reporting failures, refer possible violations to county or district attorneys and alert environmental regulators when a facility may be disqualified from a water permit.

The order matters because the reports feed the state water plan, but compliance has fallen as the industry has expanded. [Texas Tribune reporting based on TWDB records](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/14/texas-data-centers-abbott-water-survey-enforcement/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) found that 329 data centers received surveys for 2025 and nearly 30% responded. Among 267 facilities new to the agency’s tracking, the response rate was 22.5%.

The reporting duty itself is not new. [Section 16.012 of the Texas Water Code](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?artSec=&chapter=WA.16&code=WA&tab=1&ref=theamericanquorum.com) requires recipients to return a completed water-use survey. Failure can be prosecuted as a Class C misdemeanor, and a noncompliant user can become ineligible for certain permits, amendments or renewals under Chapter 11\. Abbott told TWDB to use those consequences and to coordinate notices with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

## What changes next

TWDB must report back to the governor by October 14 on its enforcement progress. The agency has said it will compel all surveyed water users to respond, although it does not prosecute cases itself; the practical enforcement path runs through local prosecutors and, for permit consequences, TCEQ. That makes the October update the first concrete checkpoint for whether the directive produces referrals, higher compliance or both.

The water action is also being tied to a separate screening of large electric loads. Abbott ordered TWDB to share water-use information with the Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. [ERCOT officials said in August](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/14/texas-data-center-approval-pause-ercot-power-grid/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) that roughly 250 to 300 projects, mostly data centers, were headed for an audit before moving through the grid-interconnection process. Projects that do not complete that audit are to be denied interconnection.

For communities weighing new facilities, the immediate effect is more disclosure rather than a statewide moratorium. The annual survey covers operating sites using more than 10 million gallons a year and asks about annual volume, whether water is purchased or self-supplied and the source. Planned facilities that are not yet operating are outside that survey, which is why the parallel ERCOT review is important for proposed projects.

The enforcement push does not by itself allocate more water or change household rates. It is intended to give state planners a more complete baseline as they project demand over the next 50 years. Because facility-level compliance information has generally required a public-records request, the October report may also show whether enforcement becomes more transparent. Texans should watch that deadline for evidence that the state has converted a long-standing reporting requirement into measurable compliance.