Yukon officials are in a quiet sprint to lock down future water supplies as a proposed hyperscale data center and an expiring wholesale contract threaten to tighten the town’s system. City leaders say engineers are testing wells and mapping out reuse systems in an effort to keep drinking water reserved for residents while negotiations over power hookups and land terms play out behind the scenes.
According to News 9, Yukon’s wholesale water contract with Oklahoma City expires in 2035, and the land purchase agreement tied to the data center proposal is packed with conditions that must be met before the deal can close, from water and electric infrastructure to environmental reviews and easement acquisitions. Local coverage also shows council members floated creating a new “industrial” reclaimed-water class to serve the project’s nonpotable cooling needs, a move that immediately had residents warning about costs and potential rate hikes, according to KOCO.
City Tests Bethany Wells And Reuse Plans
To get ahead of any crunch, Yukon hired Garver Engineering to craft a long-range water supply plan and has started testing a cluster of wells in nearby Bethany as one of several possible backup sources, according to city materials. A Garver memo, summarized in local reporting, found that a nonpotable reuse system is technically feasible and estimated a potential maximum-day capacity of roughly 2.5 million gallons per day, a volume city leaders say could cover much of the data center’s cooling load without dipping into potable water. In a public overview, the mayor’s office stressed that the Bethany well testing is separate from the data center review, as reported by Mayor Brian Pillmore. “This data center developer is going to use gray (recycled) water coming from our wastewater treatment plant,” officials told a local paper.
Council Split And A Long Due-Diligence Timeline
The Yukon City Council approved a purchase-and-sale agreement with BLE Land Holdings LLC in August 2025 for roughly 184 to 185 acres near Highway 66 and Frisco Road, but closing is contingent on negotiated water-use and power agreements and a slate of other requirements that could take anywhere from six months to two years to nail down. Oklahoma Energy Today and other local outlets report that some current and incoming council members remain sharply divided over the tradeoffs tied to the project. Officials have also said the developer would be responsible for funding plant upgrades and new distribution lines and that the deal would not move forward if independent testing showed any proposed source to be unsafe, according to News 9.
Residents Push Back As Studies Continue
Neighbors and some of the newer council members argue that the science and safeguards need to be far more concrete before Yukon commits long-term water volumes or municipal resources to a private cooling customer. KOCO documented residents at recent meetings urging caution about potential rate impacts and environmental risks, while staff have repeatedly stressed that multiple permits and independent testing would have to be completed before any reclaimed, nonpotable water could be used commercially…