Texas Farmers vs Data Centers: Water Crisis Looms

0:00It's April 15th. Welcome in. This is El Paso News Today, where local news meets AI. I'm Cory with the story. Texas farmers and communities are sounding the alarm on the data center boom, mainly because these tech giants guzzle massive amounts of water. Right now, they use about 25 billion gallons a year for cooling in power, and projections show that jumping to 161 billion. That's from just 11 centers registered in 2020 to over 120 today. Farmers have been hit hard lately, with sky high production costs, and rot bottom crop prices, barely breaking even. They're worried these projects will make things worse by straining local water supplies even more. The Texas Farmers Union just stepped up, demanding a full stop to all new data center builds. Clayton Tucker, a rancher running as the Democratic nominee for Agriculture Commissioner, is leading the charge. He wants mandatory agriculture impact studies from day one to slow everything down and really dig into the effects.

1:01His Republican opponent, Nate Cheats, sees bigger problems like farm consolidation, pushing out small operations, making land sales to data centers. Tempting, meanwhile, experts warned that, while data centers use less than 1% of the state's water now, that could hit 2.6% soon. In drought hit spots, the pressure on rivers and aquifers could get intense real quick. This clash pits rural livelihoods against the AI race and national security needs, so expect more debates as Texas ways growth against its precious resources.