Report on Data Center Water Consumption in Texas and Implications for Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

This report details the significant water consumption by data centers in San Antonio, Texas, amidst severe drought conditions. The analysis highlights the direct conflict between industrial water use and the achievement of several key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to water security, sustainable infrastructure, and community resilience. Two facilities alone consumed 463 million gallons of water over a two-year period, raising critical questions about resource management, corporate responsibility, and regulatory oversight in the state’s rapidly growing technology sector.

Analysis of Water Consumption and Resource Strain

Current Usage in San Antonio

Data indicates that two data centers in San Antonio, operated by Microsoft and the Army Corps, consumed 463 million gallons of water between 2023 and 2024. This consumption occurred while the region faced Stage 3 drought rules, which restricted residential water use for activities such as lawn watering to once per week.

Statewide Projections and Infrastructure Impact

The issue extends beyond San Antonio, with significant implications for the entire state’s resource planning.

• 2025 Projection: Data centers across Texas are projected to consume 49 billion gallons of water, an amount sufficient to supply millions of households.
• 2030 Projection: Consumption is forecasted to increase dramatically to 399 billion gallons annually, which would constitute nearly 6.6 percent of the state’s total water usage.
• Consumption Scale: While a midsize data center’s daily usage of 300,000 gallons is comparable to that of 1,000 homes, new large-scale facilities can consume up to 4.5 million gallons per day.

This escalating demand is driven by the cooling requirements for servers powering generative AI and cloud computing, with most facilities relying on water-intensive evaporative cooling methods.

Implications for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

The intensive water use by data centers directly challenges the core objective of SDG 6, which is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water for all.

• Water Scarcity: The establishment of high-consumption facilities in water-stressed areas exacerbates local water scarcity, creating a direct conflict between industrial demand and community needs.
• Sustainable Management: The current trajectory of consumption is unsustainable, particularly during prolonged droughts, undermining efforts to manage water resources equitably and efficiently.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

While data centers represent technological innovation and critical infrastructure, their current operational model in Texas is at odds with the goal of building resilient and sustainable infrastructure.

• Unsustainable Infrastructure: The reliance on evaporative cooling represents an unsustainable industrial practice that fails to incorporate resource efficiency.
• Resilience Risk: By placing immense strain on a finite resource, this model of industrial growth compromises the environmental and social resilience of the regions hosting the infrastructure.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

The situation in San Antonio exemplifies the tension between economic development and the goal of making communities sustainable and resilient.

• Resource Equity: Permitting massive industrial water consumption while restricting residential use raises significant questions of equity and fairness in resource allocation.
• Community Vulnerability: The depletion of water reserves allocated for future population growth increases the vulnerability of communities to climate change and future droughts, thereby undermining long-term urban sustainability.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

The operational patterns of these data centers are a clear example of unsustainable production, directly contravening the principles of SDG 12.

• Inefficient Production Patterns: The high volume of water consumed and lost to evaporation for cooling purposes reflects a production model that does not account for its environmental externalities.
• Corporate Responsibility: There is a pressing need for the technology industry to adopt more responsible production patterns that prioritize water efficiency and circular economy principles.

Governance and Policy Analysis

Regulatory Gaps

A significant governance failure is the lack of a statewide regulatory framework for managing water consumption by data centers. This contrasts with existing energy regulations:

1. Energy Regulation: Senate Bill 6 grants the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) the authority to curtail power to data centers during grid emergencies.
2. Water Regulation Void: No equivalent state law exists to manage or restrict water use by these facilities during periods of drought or water scarcity.

Expert Assessment and Stakeholder Concerns

Concerns have been raised by policy experts regarding the lack of foresight and community engagement.

• Margaret Cook, a water policy analyst at the Houston Advanced Research Center, notes that data centers are being established in water-stressed locations without a requirement for community consultation on their projected water use.
• This practice is described as a “gamble,” where communities are “using up the water that was allocated to their population for the future” in the hope of securing new water sources later.

Conclusion and Future Outlook

The unchecked growth of water-intensive data centers in Texas poses a direct threat to the state’s water security and its ability to meet key Sustainable Development Goals. The absence of proactive regulation and integrated resource planning creates a high-risk scenario for communities. The next Texas State Water Plan is not due until 2027, highlighting an urgent need for immediate policy dialogue and intervention. Achieving a sustainable balance between technological advancement and environmental stewardship will require robust multi-stakeholder partnerships (SDG 17) involving government, industry, and local communities to ensure that industrial growth aligns with long-term sustainability objectives.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• The article’s central theme is the massive consumption of water by data centers in a region experiencing severe drought. It directly addresses the challenges of water scarcity and sustainable water management, which are core to SDG 6. The text highlights the conflict over water resources between industrial needs (“463 million gallons of water in the past two years” used by two data centers) and community needs (“local residents were restricted to watering lawns once per week”).

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

• The article discusses a specific type of modern infrastructure—data centers—and its significant environmental footprint. The issue is not the innovation itself (AI and cloud computing) but the sustainability of the infrastructure supporting it. This connects to SDG 9’s goal of building resilient and sustainable infrastructure and promoting sustainable industrialization. The article questions whether Texas’s “business-friendly policies” are attracting industries whose resource use is unsustainable.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

• The issue directly impacts the sustainability of cities like San Antonio. The article notes that data centers are “draining water from the surrounding area” and “using up the water that was allocated to their population for the future.” This creates a direct challenge to ensuring communities have access to essential resources like water, especially when facing climate-related disasters like the “prolonged drought” mentioned.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

• The data centers’ water usage represents an unsustainable pattern of natural resource consumption. The article describes how these facilities “rely on evaporative cooling, which consumes large volumes of water and results in significant waste lost to evaporation.” This inefficient use of a critical natural resource is a key concern of SDG 12, which aims to achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• Target 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity. The article directly relates to this target by highlighting the massive and inefficient water withdrawals by the data center industry (“49 billion gallons of water in 2025”) in a water-scarce area (“difficult drought conditions throughout Texas”). The projected increase to “399 billion gallons annually by 2030” shows a trend moving away from, rather than towards, this target.
• Target 6.5: By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels. The article points to a failure in integrated management by stating that “no analogous state law exists to regulate their water use,” unlike the regulations for electricity. The fact that the “next State Water Plan is not scheduled for completion until 2027” further illustrates a lack of a comprehensive and timely management framework.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

• Target 9.4: By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency. The article describes new, high-technology infrastructure (data centers) that is inherently unsustainable in its current design due to high water consumption for cooling. This implies a clear need to retrofit these industries or develop new infrastructure designs that are more resource-efficient to meet this target.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

• Target 11.5: By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected… by disasters, including water-related disasters… with a focus on protecting… people in vulnerable situations. The article describes a “prolonged drought,” a water-related disaster. The data centers’ consumption exacerbates the effects of this drought on the local population, who face water restrictions and future water insecurity, making the community less resilient and more affected by the disaster.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

• Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. The article is a case study of the inefficient use of water. The statement that data centers “rely on evaporative cooling, which consumes large volumes of water and results in significant waste lost to evaporation” directly points to a production/operation model that does not align with the efficient use of natural resources.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Indicators for SDG 6 Targets

• Indicator 6.4.2 (Level of water stress): The article provides clear qualitative and quantitative data to measure water stress. It mentions “difficult drought conditions,” “water-stressed” places, and restrictions on residents. Quantitatively, the projected use of “399 billion gallons annually by 2030—representing almost 6.6 percent of the state’s total water usage” is a direct measure of the increasing stress on Texas’s freshwater resources.
• Indicator 6.5.1 (Degree of integrated water resources management): Progress can be measured by the status of policy and legal frameworks. The article provides a baseline by stating, “No state legislation limits water usage by Texas data centers.” The development and implementation of such legislation would be a direct indicator of progress toward this target.

Indicators for SDG 9 Target

• Implied Indicator (Water-use efficiency of industry): While not a formal UN indicator, the article provides the data needed to create a proxy for resource efficiency under Target 9.4. The amount of water consumed (“463 million gallons,” “4.5 million gallons daily”) can be measured against the output of the data centers (e.g., computing power, data stored/processed) to track water-use efficiency over time. A decrease in water used per unit of output would indicate progress.

Indicators for SDG 12 Target

• Indicator 12.2.2 (Domestic material consumption): The article provides direct measurements for the water component of this indicator. The specific figures—”463 million gallons,” “49 billion gallons,” and the projection of “399 billion gallons”—are direct measures of the consumption of a key natural resource by a specific industry, allowing for tracking over time.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: newsweek.com