The Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter presented testimony to the Texas Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs, calling for enhanced oversight of water consumption by data centers and the fossil fuel power plants that supply their electricity. The environmental organization specifically requested that data centers be mandated to report current and projected water usage to the Texas Public Utility Commission, and that the Texas Water Development Board incorporate these projections into long-term planning while improving tracking of water needs from gas and coal facilities statewide.
According to national data, data centers directly consume approximately 95 gallons of water per megawatt hour of electricity, but the indirect water demands are substantially higher. Gas and coal power plants require 238 and 409 gallons per megawatt hour respectively. Analysis of federal energy data shows that Texas fossil and nuclear plants consumed roughly 100 billion gallons annually for nearly a decade, with 2024 figures indicating gas plants used 56 billion gallons, coal plants 34 billion gallons, and nuclear plants 26 billion gallons.
The growth of hyperscale data centers has accelerated significantly, with existing facilities representing 12 gigawatts of capacity and constituting 15 percent of electricity consumption within ERCOT, the state’s primary grid operator. An additional 426 gigawatts of data center capacity remains in the connection queue, indicating substantial future expansion. This rapid growth compounds existing water pressures, as coal and gas plants provide the primary power sources for these facilities.
The water consumption disparity between energy sources is notable. Despite coal providing only 12 percent of state electricity at the end of 2024, it accounted for 31 percent of electricity-related water consumption. Gas plants, supplying 51 percent of the state’s electricity, represented 48 percent of total electricity-related water consumption. Renewable energy sources, including wind at 22 percent and solar at 8 percent of the state’s electricity supply, require minimal water for operation and are not tracked for water usage by federal authorities.
The Texas Senate Committee is expected to issue recommendations in December regarding improved monitoring and management of water use by large industrial consumers.
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