Texas

Water-use reporting enforcement directive

Reporting or resource-use requirement

In effect

Scope

The 14 September 2026 letter directs the Texas Water Development Board to compel major water users, including data centers, to comply with existing water-use survey duties, to use statutory remedies for noncompliance, and to partner with ERCOT on its data-center audit to seek water-use information. It is an enforcement and coordination directive about reporting. It does not itself pause interconnection or TCEQ permits, and it does not order operating facilities to shut down.

Dates

Effective
14 September 2026
Scheduled expiration
None scheduled
Completion condition
The Board must give the governor an initial update within 30 days and continue updating, including when the audit is completed. The letter states no expiration of the reporting duty.
Source document
14 September 2026
Last checked
22 September 2026
Issuing authority
Governor of Texas

Summary

On 14 September 2026, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board to enforce existing water-use survey obligations against major water users, including data centers, and to partner with ERCOT so the data-center audit collects water-use information. The letter quotes Water Code section 16.012 on the duty to return the survey and on consequences the statute provides. It asks for an initial progress update within 30 days and further updates when the audit is completed. This record does not find that any particular operator failed to report, and it does not adopt the letter's allegation as a fact. The directive is not a construction pause and does not expire on the update date.

What this does not establish

  • The reporting duty cited in the letter is attributed to the Texas Water Code. This review did not re-open the code to confirm the current statutory text.
  • The letter alleges apparent noncompliance by major water users, including data centers. That allegation is the governor's statement, not a DataCenterData finding about any operator.
  • A 30-day progress update is not an end date for the survey duty. The press office has described a 14 October 2026 update; the letter itself says 'within 30 days' and does not print that calendar day.
  • This directive does not replace the 3 August interconnection letter or the later TCEQ permit letter.

Unresolved questions

  • Which entities were surveyed for calendar year 2025, and which of them are data centers, is not stated in the letter.
  • Whether the Board has referred any matter to a prosecutor or notified TCEQ was not checked.
  • The letter tells the Board to partner with ERCOT on water questions. It does not say that a failure to answer ERCOT's request is, by itself, a Water Code offense.

Relationships

Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. A later implementation or a related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.

Sources

Primary source

https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/TWDB_Letter.pdf

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