Perusing the headlines in the news, sometimes it is strikingly obvious just how goofy living in Texas can be. Case in point are the juxtaposition of two stories that appeared on May 23rd in the San Antonio Express News.
For first time ever, Edwards Aquifer in Stage 5 drought restrictions announced the adoption of Stage 5 Drought Restrictions by the Edwards Aquifer Authority. According to the article, “It’s the first time the agency has ever implemented Stage 5 reductions in the San Antonio Pool, a seven-county area that includes Bexar, Medina, Comal and Hays counties…. Permit holders in those counties who have rights to pump water from the aquifer — including San Antonio Water System, the city of Alamo Heights and New Braunfels Utilities — must reduce their pumping to 56% of their permitted amounts under Stage 5 rules.”
As alarming as that news is, equally alarming are the heedless plans to build additional thirsty projects like high density subdivisions and AI data centers in a region that is already being hammered by drought.
The San Antonio Express News reported in Hill Country residents fighting data center plan. It’ll likely be built anyway, that construction of an artificial intelligence data center on 95 acres in Hays County will begin in July. Data centers consume significant amounts of water, primarily for cooling IT equipment. A single data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of drinking water per day, enough to supply thousands of households.
According to the article, “CloudBurst has yet to file for any permits but the data center is unlikely to face significant regulatory obstacles. A Texas law passed during the last legislative session allows developers to apply for de-annexation from cities, provided the property owners meet the law’s criteria. The law exempts developers from municipal regulations and significantly limits municipalities’ ability to manage growth or development. That means that as long as CloudBurst’s paperwork is filed correctly, Hays County must approve the data center.” You can learn more about this law in GEAA”s A Review of the Impacts of Senate Bill 2038 on Land Use and Water Supplies in Central Texas- May 2024. (bit.ly/3FtqCax)
“It’s gonna happen anyways … Our hands are absolutely tied,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra told residents who met to oppose the CloudBurst project at the Hays County Courthouse earlier this week. “We can do absolutely nothing about it, even if we’re 100% alongside you. Elections matter. State control has us hamstrung.”
Water availability, facing a triple whammy of reductions by drought, the impacts of climate change, and the need to provide water to the thousands of new Texans moving to the Hill Country, has become a pressing issue that is not going away. Sadly, we will not see this issue meriting the need it deserves by the Texas legislature during this session. Several bills that could have addressed water availability in meaningful ways failed to pass.
Meanwhile, we await the passage of House Joint Resolution 7, which proposes a constitutional amendment to dedicate $1 billion per year to the Texas Water
Fund to be used for water supplies. We hope that this resolution is approved and, if so, that Texans have the good sense to vote their approval next November.
A billion dollars a year, however, is just a drop in the bucket of water that will be needed to serve Texans in the future. Given that needs will likely exceed demand, we believe that our local governments, (cities, counties, and groundwater districts) need to be empowered to determine whether there is enough water available for new developments and, to say no when this is not the case.
The only way to make sure this happens during the next legislative session is for the voters of the Texas Hill Country to elect state officials that make this a priority. GEAA stands ready to address the issue of water availability during the 2027 legislative session and beyond but, the success of these efforts relies, as always, on the election of leaders who care.
Link to San Antonio Express News article: bit.ly/4dKeZss
