California’s Data Center Boom Raises Water-Use Transparency Concerns

A Next10 and Santa Clara University report finds that new data centers are moving into California’s water-stressed regions, especially the Central Valley, Imperial Valley, and overdrafted groundwater basins. Existing facilities cluster in the south Bay Area and Los Angeles, while planned projects target rural sites such as Gilroy and the Imperial Valley. Public information on water consumption, cooling methods, and recycling practices is largely unavailable.

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California’s groundwater-dependent regions have long faced over-extraction and drought-driven stress, a condition amplified by climate change. Water-intensive cooling can worsen shortages for agriculture, ecosystems, and residents, while opaque water-use data hampers utilities and policymakers from balancing competing demands.

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• Irina Raicu, director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

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• Iris Stewart-Frey, environmental science professor, Santa Clara University

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• Assemblymember Diane Papan, Democrat, San Mateo County

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• Governor Gavin Newsom

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• F. Noel Perry, Next10 founder

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Existing data centers concentrate in the south Bay Area and Los Angeles, with smaller clusters in Sacramento and San Diego. Planned sites include Gilroy (Santa Clara County) and the Imperial Valley. The report examined five cases (three operating, two proposed) and found no publicly posted environmental impact reports for most facilities.

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Governor Newsom vetoed Papan’s 2025 bill requiring water-use reporting, citing insufficient understanding of business impacts. Papan has re-introduced two bills mandating disclosure to water suppliers, municipalities, and counties, and restricting approvals in overdrafted basins. The Data Center Coalition, via Boender, claims data centers use less water than agriculture, power, food-beverage, and semiconductor sectors, though no supporting data were provided.

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The Coalition’s low-water-use claim lacks quantitative backing. Community groups in Kern County, the Imperial Valley, and Monterey Park have challenged projects, warning of strain on limited supplies. A developer dismissed opponents as an uninformed mob, characterizing their concerns as “rage-baiting.”

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Environmental impact reports are scarce; most documentation is missing, contradictory, or vague. Water providers refused to share usage data, and no comparative water-use figures exist to verify industry or academic assertions.

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• “We have this huge build out, and we have very little data,” — Irina Raicu, director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

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• “Limited publicly available information about data center water use makes it difficult for communities, water providers, and researchers to have meaningful public discussions and responsibly assess power-water trade-offs,” — Shaolei Ren, UC Riverside

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• “You cannot manage what you have not and cannot measure,” — Assemblymember Diane Papan

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• “We can't manage what we cannot measure, and right now, data center water use is largely invisible,” — Iris Stewart-Frey, Santa Clara University

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Papan’s bills have cleared a key legislative hurdle but face continued opposition from the tech industry and business groups. Their passage could impose mandatory water-use reporting and limit data-center development in overdrafted basins, shaping the balance between digital infrastructure growth and water-resource sustainability.

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