Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to impose penalties on data centers that fail to complete a water usage survey, the governor's office announced Monday.
In a letter sent to the TWDB, Abbott said data centers and other major water users "appear to have committed civil and criminal violations by failing to provide TWDB with information about [their] water usage." According to Abbott, survey responses covering 2025 were due in March.
Abbott did not directly name alleged violators, but he said those that failed to comply could face "legal consequences."
"Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water," Abbott said in a statement. "I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply."
Abbott's letter also directed the TWDB to work with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on its ongoing effort to audit data centers' energy and water use across the state.
Related: ERCOT to survey more than 400 data centers as part of Gov. Abbott's audit
The latest directive came after Abbott ordered a "pause" on data center approvals until state regulators complete the audit.
According to Abbott, the water usage surveys are necessary as the TWDB is in charge of developing a state water plan that "meets the needs of Texas."
Major water users who fail to complete and return a water use survey could face a Class C misdemeanor and become "ineligible to obtain permits, permit amendments, or permit renewals" from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to the Texas Water Code.
"A data center that failed to complete and return the survey commits an offense punishable as a crime," the governor's office said in a press release. "TWDB must enforce those remedies against noncompliant data centers, including referral to the appropriate County or District Attorney and notice to TCEQ for possible permit disqualification.
Abbott's directive requires TWDB to provide an update on enforcement actions by Oct. 14.
Last month, ERCOT said it plans to complete its data center audit by December.
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