Texas Water Development Board denied a petition to give data centers their own water demand category and adopted the 2027 State Water Plan the same day
The Texas Water Development Board took up a petition for rulemaking on July 23rd, 2026. It asked the agency to project water demand for data centers and crypto mining as a standalone industrial category. The petition was filed by Margaret Hill and co petitioners, and the board denied it. At the same meeting the board considered adoption of the 2027 State Water Plan (Phase I), which contains no separate demand line for high density computing load. Board members noted that regional water plans feed the state plan and can be amended as better data arrives. The decision means the state's central water planning document carries data center demand folded inside broader categories rather than on its own.
How to take part
TWDB board meetings are held at 1700 Congress Avenue in the Stephen F. Austin Building, Room 170, Austin, and by Teams. Anyone wanting to address the board completes a visitor registration card. Remote participants email the form to Customer_Service@twdb.texas.gov by noon the day before. Agenda item 26 is a general public comment period on any matter within the board's jurisdiction.
Where
Statewide. This decision applies across Texas rather than to a named county.
Timeline
- statutory deadline
deadline for remote speakers to submit the visitor registration form for that meeting
- ordered
TWDB board meeting at which the petition for rulemaking was considered and the 2027 State Water Plan (Phase I) was taken up for adoption
- Today
How this decision moved
One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.
- 2026-08-19
The petition is confirmed to have reached the board. The July 23rd agenda carries an item to consider acting on a petition for rulemaking on a dedicated industrial water use category for data centers and crypto mining operations. That agenda does not record how the board voted.
- 2026-08-22
Checked and unchanged. The July 23rd board agenda still carries the item to consider acting on a petition for rulemaking. The petition asks for a dedicated water use category for data centers, and no later board action on it appears.
- 2026-08-25
Checked and unchanged. The decision still stands as decided.
- 2026-08-26
Checked and unchanged. The decision still stands as decided.
- 2026-08-26
Quote repaired. The stored verbatim was missing the word "also", which is why a re-check could not find it on the page and reported it unreadable. Re-fetched at the source and the sentence reads "the three-member board also denied a petition by Wimberley resident Margaret Elizabeth Hill". Nothing else about the item changed.
- 2026-08-29
Checked and unchanged. The board's denial still stands and the state water plan still carries no standalone water demand projection for data centers. The petition asking for one is still refused.
- 2026-09-02
The petition for a separate water demand category for data centers is still the item on the board's own agenda and the board has published no reversal.
- 2026-09-05
The water board's refusal to give data centers their own demand category still stands and the state water plan carries what it carried.
- 2026-09-08
The water board's denial of the data center water demand petition still stands, and the state water plan adopted the same day is unchanged. One quote the record carried was short of the source by a word, and it now reads as the article actually wrote it.
- 2026-09-09
The water board's denial of the petition to give data centers their own demand projections still stands, and the state water plan still carries no separate figure for them.
- 2026-09-12
The water board's denial of the petition to give data centers their own demand projections still stands. The state water plan adopted the same day still carries no separate category for them.
- 2026-09-13
The board's denial of the petition for a separate data center water category still stands, and the state water plan still carries no separate figure for them.
- 2026-09-16
The water board's refusal to give data centers their own demand category still stands, so they are still counted inside the categories that existed before. Nothing has been refiled.
- 2026-09-19
The denial stands. The state water plan still carries no separate demand category for data centers.
- 2026-09-24
The board's denial stands. The state water plan still has no demand category of its own for data centers.
- 2026-09-27
The board's denial still stands. The state water plan still carries no demand category of its own for data centers.
- 2026-09-30
The water board's denial of the petition still stands as the board issued it.
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
Consider acting on a petition for rulemaking filed by Margaret Hill and Co-Petitioners related to a dedicated industrial water-use category for Data Centers and Crypto-Mining OperationsAgenda for TWDB Board Meeting - July 23, 2026 | Texas Water Development Board Primary source, official · twdb.texas.gov
Consider adoption of the 2027 State Water Plan (Phase I)Agenda for TWDB Board Meeting - July 23, 2026 | Texas Water Development Board Primary source, official · twdb.texas.gov
the three-member board also denied a petition by Wimberley resident Margaret Elizabeth HillWater development board says 'limited' info available about data centers for 2027 state water plan | Community Impact Journalism · communityimpact.com
I don't want folks to think that if it's not in the water plan, someone's not thinking about it or someone's not considering it.Water development board says 'limited' info available about data centers for 2027 state water plan | Community Impact Journalism · communityimpact.com
Questions about this decision
Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.
What is this decision?
The Texas Water Development Board took up a petition for rulemaking on July 23rd, 2026. It asked the agency to project water demand for data centers and crypto mining as a standalone industrial category. The petition was filed by Margaret Hill and co petitioners, and the board denied it. At the same meeting the board considered adoption of the 2027 State Water Plan (Phase I), which contains no separate demand line for high density computing load. Board members noted that regional water plans feed the state plan and can be amended as better data arrives. The decision means the state's central water planning document carries data center demand folded inside broader categories rather than on its own.
Who decides it?
Texas Water Development Board decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
TWDB board meetings are held at 1700 Congress Avenue in the Stephen F. Austin Building, Room 170, Austin, and by Teams. Anyone wanting to address the board completes a visitor registration card. Remote participants email the form to Customer_Service@twdb.texas.gov by noon the day before. Agenda item 26 is a general public comment period on any matter within the board's jurisdiction.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It is a statewide body's action and it governs the ERCOT region rather than every county.
Has it been decided?
It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.
What happens next?
No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was ordered on July 23rd.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is July 22nd, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under land, water and permitting.
What sources back it?
Two sources back it. One of them is primary.
Is it on the ERCOT grid?
Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.
When was it last checked?
Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 30th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, Texas Water Development Board denied a petition to give data centers their own water demand category and adopted the 2027 State Water Plan the same day. Tracked since July 22nd, 2026. Last verified September 30th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0056/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0056.
Beat
Filed under Land, water and permitting, with every other decision on that beat.