Dallas officials are no longer just watching the region’s data center boom from the sidelines. Last Wednesday, the City of Dallas’ Environmental Commission voted to kick off a formal review of the fast-growing industry, citing worries that sprawling new server campuses could stretch the city’s water supplies and electric grid to their limits. Commissioners instructed staff to gather hard numbers on resource use, study possible zoning and utility changes, and return with policy options at a special strategic planning meeting.
City panel pushes full policy review
According to the City of Dallas, the Dallas–Fort Worth area already hosts roughly 243 data centers. Commissioners outlined a specific to-do list: work with Dallas Water Utilities to quantify current water consumption, fold data centers into the broader zoning reform effort, and schedule a strategic planning session to hammer out recommendations. The vote effectively puts Dallas on a fast track to turn broad anxiety about resource use into concrete local policy choices.
Water worries
A new white paper from the Houston Advanced Research Center warns that the industry’s water footprint is primed to swell dramatically. HARC estimates that existing Texas data centers already use about 25 billion gallons of water per year and that demand could climb to as much as 161 billion gallons annually by 2030. Reporting by The Texas Tribune and the city’s own presentation note that the Texas Water Development Board has been unable to forecast future water needs because many data centers did not respond to surveys they are legally required to complete.
Grid strain spurs new rules
On the power side, ERCOT projects data center demand for 2030 jumping to roughly 77,965 megawatts, a spike planners say will require new tools for grid interconnection and reliability. State leaders have already laid down some ground rules: recent changes now require large power users to help pay for interconnection costs and to accept remote curtailment during emergencies, a shift detailed by Data Center Dynamics.
Regulators are stretched thin
Commissioners also raised a practical concern: who is actually enforcing all of this. Reporting shows the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is carrying a backlog of roughly 1,400 to 1,480 enforcement cases and has asked for more staff and funding, a crunch that advocates say can leave communities waiting a long time for action. As reported by the Dallas Business Journal, commissioners pointed to those enforcement limits as a key reason Dallas should craft its own rules instead of relying solely on state-level permitting.
The commission directed staff to team up with Dallas Water Utilities on a baseline water inventory, build in opportunities for public participation, and bring draft code language and policy options to a special strategic planning session for potential council consideration. The city’s presentation made it clear that officials want to avoid one-off, ad hoc deals that lock in long-term commitments of city resources without clear, consistent standards…