Amazon’s plans to build a nearly 3,000-acre data center campus in Wharton County cleared a key hurdle recently when regulators approved groundwater permits needed for parts of the $10 billion project outside of Houston.
The permits, which were hotly contested by Wharton County residents, would allow Amazon to tap into millions of gallons of groundwater a year for its office buildings and fire protection at the data center campus. The Coastal Bend Groundwater Conservation District issued the permits Sept. 8.The permits don’t include the millions of gallons in surface water Amazon is expected to need to cool the campus’ data center buildings, which could span more than 1.9 million square feet.
Water is a central flashpoint in the national debate over the new wave of data centers powering artificial intelligence. Heat-generating computer equipment in the facilities often require an enormous amount of water, electricity, or both, for cooling. As public criticism of data centers mounts, Gov. Greg Abbott has said that the facilities must reuse their own water and that companies could face criminal penalties for failing to disclose their water use. On Sept. 21, Abbott told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to pause issuing permits for data centers until state agencies complete ongoing audits of the facilities…