San Angelo City Council caps data center cooling water by ordinance
San Angelo passed Ordinance 2026-078, which adds Section 11.02.043 to the city water service rules. It puts hard numbers on how much city water a data center may take for cooling. Initial cooling system fill can't exceed 8.0 gallons per square foot of gross building area for each building. Routine makeup water can't exceed six percent of the installed cooling loop volume per building per calendar year, and cooling water has to be metered separately from other use. Any exceedance needs City Manager approval and has to be reported in writing to the City Council within five business days. The ordinance was introduced with a public hearing on May 19th, 2026 and passed on June 16th, 2026, taking effect the same day.
How to take part
The ordinance is adopted and in force. The City of San Angelo publishes the three adopted data center ordinances and the Northeast Sector Master Plan work on its Data Center Information page. City Council meets in open session where residents may speak. Exceedance reports go to the City Council within five business days, so the record of any overuse arrives on a public agenda.
Where
1 county. In San Angelo.
Timeline
- hearing
Introduced with public hearing
- ordered
Finally passed by City Council, reported 7 to 0
- effective
Ordinance effective date
- 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
Checked and unchanged. The city's data center page lists the water usage ordinance approved June 16th as the most recent council action and carries nothing from July or August.
- 2026-08-22
Checked and unchanged. Ordinance 2026-078 of June 16th still amends Chapter 11 on utilities to cap data center cooling water, and the city's record carries no later amendment to it.
- 2026-08-26
Checked and unchanged. The cooling water cap still stands as an ordinance, the closed loop requirement is still written into it, and the annual makeup water definition is still the one quoted here.
- 2026-08-29
Checked and unchanged. The cooling water cap is still in the city's utilities chapter and the closed loop requirement still applies to every data center facility. The makeup water limit the ordinance sets is unaltered.
- 2026-09-02
The ordinance stands as adopted and the city's own data center page still carries it.
- 2026-09-05
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water still stands in the ordinance as adopted.
- 2026-09-08
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water is still on the books as the council passed it. The ordinance text is unchanged.
- 2026-09-09
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water is still in the utilities chapter of the city code, with the closed-loop requirement intact.
- 2026-09-12
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water is still in the utilities chapter of the city code, and the closed-loop requirement under it is intact.
- 2026-09-13
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water is still in force, and the city still publishes the ordinance behind it.
- 2026-09-16
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water is still the ordinance the council passed, and the city's own data center page still points at it. Nothing has amended the cap.
- 2026-09-19
The cap on cooling water is still the city's ordinance and the council has not revisited it.
- 2026-09-24
The cap on cooling water is unconfirmed this run. The city's own data center page and the ordinance posted beside it could not be read again.
- 2026-09-26
The ordinance capping data center cooling water is still posted by the city beside its data center page, and closed loop cooling is still what it requires.
- 2026-09-29
San Angelo's cap on data center cooling water stands in the ordinance the city posts.
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN ANGELO TEXAS, AMENDING CHAPTER 11 “UTILITIES,” ARTICLE 11.02 “WATER AND SEWER SYSTEMS,” DIVISION 2 “WATER SERVICE,” BY ADDING SECTION 11.02.043 “DATA CENTER”; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATEOrdinance 2026-078, Official Minute Record Volume 2026, June 16, 2026 Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
Initial Fill: Initial cooling system fill shall not exceed 8.0 gallons per square foot of Gross Building Area (as defined in the approved building permit) for each Data Center building.Ordinance 2026-078, Exhibit A, Section 11.02.43 Data Center Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
Annual Makeup Water: Routine cooling system makeup water (to replace minor losses from valve packing, gasket weepage, and maintenance drain-downs) shall not exceed six percent (6%) of the total installed cooling loop volume per Data Center building per calendar year.Ordinance 2026-078, Exhibit A, Section 11.02.43 Data Center Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
Cooling water usage shall be metered separately from other water usage at Data Center facilities.Ordinance 2026-078, Exhibit A, Section 11.02.43 Data Center Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
All Data Center facilities shall employ closed-loop cooling systems, or similar cooling technology, which minimizes water use, and eliminates the need for continuous withdrawals from the City’s public water supply for heat rejection.Ordinance 2026-078, Exhibit A, Section 11.02.43 Data Center Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
INTRODUCED with public hearing the 19th day of May 2026 and finally PASSED this 16th day of June 2026.Ordinance 2026-078, Official Minute Record Volume 2026, June 16, 2026 Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
Approved 7-0 at the June 16, 2026 City Council meeting.Data Center Information, City of San Angelo Primary source, official · sanangelo.gov
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?
San Angelo passed Ordinance 2026-078, which adds Section 11.02.043 to the city water service rules. It puts hard numbers on how much city water a data center may take for cooling. Initial cooling system fill can't exceed 8.0 gallons per square foot of gross building area for each building. Routine makeup water can't exceed six percent of the installed cooling loop volume per building per calendar year, and cooling water has to be metered separately from other use. Any exceedance needs City Manager approval and has to be reported in writing to the City Council within five business days. The ordinance was introduced with a public hearing on May 19th, 2026 and passed on June 16th, 2026, taking effect the same day.
Who decides it?
City of San Angelo City Council decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
The ordinance is adopted and in force. The City of San Angelo publishes the three adopted data center ordinances and the Northeast Sector Master Plan work on its Data Center Information page. City Council meets in open session where residents may speak. Exceedance reports go to the City Council within five business days, so the record of any overuse arrives on a public agenda.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It covers Tom Green County in the San Angelo, TX area.
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 effective on June 16th.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is May 19th, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under land, water and permitting.
What sources back it?
Two sources back it. Two of them are 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 29th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, San Angelo City Council caps data center cooling water by ordinance. Tracked since May 19th, 2026. Last verified September 29th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0065/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0065.
Beat
Filed under Land, water and permitting, with every other decision on that beat.