{"id":102408,"date":"2025-12-28T05:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T05:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/102408\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T05:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T05:37:14","slug":"meta-data-center-not-in-top-10-water-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/102408\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta data center not in top 10 water users"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 The president and CEO of El Paso Water is addressing concerns about water consumption for the new Meta AI data center.<\/p>\n

In a monthly electronic newsletter called \u201cOn the Water Front,\u201d John Balliew mentions the question that residents are asking: Is El Paso Water really able to accommodate Meta\u2019s water needs without impacting the rest of the city?<\/p>\n

Balliew explains that the Borderplex Alliance and the City of El Paso\u2019s Economic Development team were \u201cvery deliberate\u201d about attracting new businesses that value environmental responsibility and water conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long-standing principles when it comes to our water: It\u2019s precious, protected and carefully managed,\u201d read part of the letter.<\/p>\n

You can read the entire letter here:<\/p>\n

OntheWaterfront_December2025<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n

As KTSM previously reported, the data center is estimated to use nearly 750,000 gallons per day, and Meta has pledged to offset its water usage by 200 percent and will use innovative technology to significantly reduce water used in their cooling processes. Local officials, such as El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, say they plan to hold Meta accountable for their conservation claims.<\/p>\n

El Paso County Judge: Meta will be held accountable for water, energy conservation assurances <\/a><\/p>\n

In the letter, Balliew offers an answer to rumors of Meta receiving any free water or discounts: No, they will not, he said.<\/p>\n

While it was expected that the data center might use around 750,000 gallons per day, Balliew says the numbers are projected to hover around 400,000 gallons of water a day annually. That number adds up to around 146 million gallons of water in one year.<\/p>\n

Balliew also says that the data center is not in the utility\u2019s top 10 largest water users, based on their estimated use. The data center comes at No. 11, with schools and hospitals ranking above.<\/p>\n

He explains that since the 1970s, the utility has cut its per-capita water consumption by 40 percent. In the early 1990s, EP Water began conducting a sustainable supply planning process, which is the same strategy that would be used to ensure they would be able to serve Meta on \u201cprojections of population, growth patterns and future water needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balliew states in the letter that EP Water is working on the following water supply projects that will help secure the water future for the next half-century:<\/p>\n

Pure Water Center will produce 10 million drought-proof gallons of drinking water per day, and a future Upper Valley project to treat river water will produce 5 million gallons per day (MGD). Every drop of water from these projects is a drop remaining in the Borderland\u2019s aquifers, maintaining groundwater supply for future generations.<\/p>\n

Expanding the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant will increase its production capacity from 27 million to 33.5 MGD.<\/p>\n

Once completed, the Aquifer Replenishment project, currently under construction, will add the equivalent of 5 MGD in a full river season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are united with the City of El Paso in welcoming Meta and other companies that are willing to embrace our hard-won culture of conservation. Just as we did with Meta, our customers can count on us to carefully evaluate our support of future large water users on a case-by-case basis. Because of years of careful investment and responsible management of our water sources, EPWater is an industry leader in developing reliable water supplies to meet the needs of Meta and our community,\u201d read the letter.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 The president and CEO of El Paso Water is addressing concerns about water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5421,138,140,139,5768,15709,46703,3218,8280,46702],"class_list":["post-102408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-data-center","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-el-paso-water","tag-gallons-of-water","tag-john-balliew","tag-water-conservation","tag-water-consumption","tag-water-needs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}