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The stacks of coal powered electric generation units are visible at the WA Parish Generating Station Monday, Feb. 19, 2024 in Richmond.<\/p>\n
Kirk Sides\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n
As water shortages loom in Texas, the fast-growing data center industry<\/a> is under intense public scrutiny<\/a> for the large amount of water many of these facilities use to stay cool. In response, data center companies have pledged to move to less water-intensive cooling technologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n But cooling is only part of the picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n A new report from the Sierra Club<\/a> points to a more substantial burden on the state\u2019s water systems: power plants.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n SEARCHABLE MAP: See where data centers are planned or operating near you<\/a><\/p>\n The analysis illustrates how the electricity source for a data center project can be more consequential to the facility\u2019s water footprint than the cooling technology it uses, according to Margaret Cook, a water expert with the Houston Advanced Research Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Cook published a report<\/a> finding that by 2030, Texas data centers could consume up to six times more water than they need today.<\/p>\n \u201cIf data centers push for natural gas as their supply, or even small modular nuclear reactors \u2026 that will increase our water use. That’s what pushes the demand,\u201d Cook said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Nuclear, coal and natural gas power plants \u2014 also known as thermal plants \u2014 are the most water-intensive types of power generation. In Texas, these plants require between 200 gallons and nearly 700 gallons of water to generate a megawatt-hour of electricity, according to the Sierra Club\u2019s analysis of federal data.<\/p>\n In contrast, a typical data center consumes 95 gallons of water for every megawatt-hour of electricity used to cool the computer servers inside, according to national estimates<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas agencies focus on predicting rather than influencing industrial water use, leaving these decisions largely up to the burgeoning industry. Many data centers are choosing to build their own natural gas power plants<\/a> as they wait for Texas\u2019 electric grid to catch up, even in drought-stricken West Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have stretched our water supplies very thin to be able to add new users,\u201d Cook said. \u201cAnd at the local level, it can be very significant for some communities.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\u2018Water-guzzling\u2019 facilities\u00a0\n<\/p>\n In a press briefing, Sierra Club advocates called on Texas to double down on renewable energy, which uses negligible water to generate electricity, and encourage data centers to install their own clean energy resources.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n They also urged an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power plants, which also emit high levels of health-harming and climate-warming emissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have alternatives to these really water-guzzling thermal plants that are being used,\u201d said Noah Ver Beek, a Sierra Club data analyst.<\/p>\n Since 2015, Texas\u2019 thermal power plants have consumed roughly 100 billion gallons of water per year, according to the Sierra Club report, a figure that includes only the water that is lost during cooling. An even larger amount of water is reused and largely unavailable for public supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, Walt Baum, CEO of the trade association representing Texas\u2019 largest power generation companies, noted that power plants’ consumption accounts for only 4%<\/a> of the state\u2019s total water use. Eliminating every coal and natural gas power plant in the state, he said, \u201cwould not meaningfully address Texas\u2019 long-term water needs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Power plants continuously cycle the vast majority of the water that they use, Baum said. Many plants also reuse wastewater and employ air-cooled condensers to minimize overall water use, he said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unfortunate, but not surprising, that this study fails to include any meaningful context,\u201d Baum said. \u201cElectricity remains the lifeblood of the Texas Miracle, and ensuring a reliable, affordable, and sustainable grid must remain a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Power plants\u2019 water use, the fourth-largest source of water demand in Texas, is a small fraction of the scale of agricultural and municipal water use in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n