A new survey finds that North Texas cities and counties are struggling to prepare for rapid data center development.
The North Central Texas Council of Governments, which , asked a group of 31 local leaders and municipal staff about how they鈥檙e addressing ongoing development.
The vast majority 鈥� 78% 鈥� of respondents said their city or county doesn鈥檛 have adequate infrastructure to support new data centers without major upgrades.
鈥淎 lot of the things that local governments identified in the survey are things that the developers could do to ensure positive outcomes,鈥� said Susan Alvarez, director of environment and development at the North Central Texas Council of Governments. 鈥淚t's addressing water supply, water use, addressing energy capacity reliability, sustainability measures.鈥�
The survey also found that respondents have significant environmental concerns over water and energy used by data centers. Nearly all 鈥� 96% 鈥� said data centers can have the greatest strain on water resources. Another 81% are concerned over the strain to the power grid.
The region's latest water plan projects that demand for water will as the population continues to grow.
鈥淲e're tapping into resources that we don't necessarily have,鈥� Alvarez said. 鈥淲e've had some of our communities have existing drawdowns on their wells right now and so water is a significant concern across Texas.鈥�
A spokesperson for the Data Center Coalition, which lobbies for the industry, previously told 四虎影院 that data centers are vital infrastructure for digital resources that range from virtual meetings to bank transactions. The development of artificial intelligence has also bolstered the demand for more facilities.
While many data centers that are planned or under construction in Texas will operate on a 鈥渃losed loop鈥� system that reuses water, Alvarez said the technology required to power that system requires more energy.
Respondents also said while there鈥檚 the possibility of economic benefits from new data center development, there isn鈥檛 enough information to support long-term value for their communities.
鈥淵es, there's potential for great economic improvement from tax revenues, but the data to be able to assess and plan to understand really how much of those purported tax revenues are real is not available,鈥� Alvarez said.
The survey found that cities and counties in North Texas seek stronger guardrails for new development, such as sustainability requirements that could include water reuse, renewable energy use and efficiency standards.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently directed a until the Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council complete a comprehensive audit before they connect to the power grid.
鈥淭here really is not a lot of data on this particular industry that helps local governments with either assessing whether it's appropriate for their community or planning for how to support,鈥� Alvarez said. 鈥淎nything that the state can do to help local governments with respect to getting the data that supports good decision making, I think would be appreciated.鈥�
Pablo Arauz Pe帽a is 四虎影院鈥檚 growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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