BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – As data centers rapidly expand across South Texas, KSAT Investigates learned the public cannot find out how much water San Antonio-area data centers are using because of a Texas law that its author says is being interpreted far more broadly than intended.
Water is used to cool and produce power used by data centers. Data centers could potentially account for 3% to 9% of Texas’ water use by 2040, according to a report from University of Texas at Austin researchers.
Data centers popping up across South Texas
A 39-acre plot of land in Cibolo is expected to become home to a new data center.
Legacy Investing plans to build a 243,000-square-foot facility on the property, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.
Nearby resident Davin Hicks started a petition to move the planned facility. He said many neighbors didn’t realize that the project was planned until recently.
“People are outraged because nobody knows and they just pop up,” Hicks said.
Cibolo council member Katie Cunningham said on Facebook that she did not know the data center had been approved until an article was published in early July.
KSAT Investigates emailed Cibolo City Manager Wayne Reed on July 28 to ask when the city approved the data center and how the city planned to address concerns from residents. Reed has not responded.
Cibolo’s city council is set to discuss possible regulations for data centers Tuesday night, according to the meeting agenda.
The debate over data centers has spread across Central and South Texas.
Last month, the San Marcos City Council voted to ban data centers while residents in Atascosa County have also voiced concerns about how the facilities could affect nearby neighborhoods, property values and the environment.
Hicks has similar concerns.
“The water consumption is ridiculous,” he said.
Hicks believes that residents should know how much water data centers consume.
“Transparency on water usage, on electrical usage, on even plans to build,” Hicks said. “There’s none of that.”
Why SAWS won’t release the records
To better understand how much water existing data centers are using, KSAT Investigates filed a public information request with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) seeking water usage records for 36 data centers in Bexar County over the past three years.
SAWS said they could not release data from after the implementation of smart water meters, which would start around 2023, because of a provision in Texas law.
That provision is the result of a six-year-old law written by Texas State Representative Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, which he said was meant to protect individuals and families’ water usage data from payday lenders — not corporations or companies.
“Data centers are doing tremendous damage to Texas, to our water supply, to air quality,” said Bernal. “We need to know as much as we possibly can.”
“Do you think SAWS is interpreting your bill the way you meant it?” asked KSAT’s Daniela Ibarra.
“Absolutely not,” replied Bernal. “At this point, especially because of your request, I think there’s fair warning that something has to be fixed. The bill and the pre-existing law give them the ability to fix it. This is not an unfixable problem.”
KSAT Investigates emailed SAWS for their response to Bernal’s comments. The utility’s spokesperson, Anne Hayden, provided the following statement:
“SAWS is correctly interpreting and applying the law. We operate our Open Records Requests with the goal of releasing as much information as state law allows and consistent with relevant interpretations by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and its protocols. Similarly in this situation, in February 2026 the Attorney General’s Office issued a ruling and interpretation of Section 552.1331 of the Texas Government Code regarding a request by the City of Corpus Christi. The AG issued a formal opinion that this provision is applicable to commercial accounts and commercial information gathered from AMI systems should be withheld from public disclosure. SAWS is therefore abiding by state law and the AG opinion that prohibits disclosure of this information in your request.”
Transparency concerns extend to the Capitol
The debate comes as lawmakers examine the growing demands that data centers place on Texas’ electric grid and water resources.
During a June legislative hearing, lawmakers learned that fewer than one-third of data center companies responded to a state survey asking them to voluntarily report their water use.
“The transparency of utilization of resources shouldn’t be optional,” State Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, said in the hearing.
Bernal said while utilities are withholding the information, data center companies themselves could choose to publicly disclose their water usage.
For Hicks, the lack of transparency is one more reason to oppose the proposed development in his hometown.
“I don’t want to have that title on Cibolo,” he said.
Have a story idea for Daniela? Email her at dibarra@ksat.com
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.