Google announced Wednesday it will invest $10 million in water infrastructure projects across Texas communities where the tech giant plans to construct data centers, marking the company’s first attempt to quell backlash against massive data centers with insatiable needs for power and water.
The Houston Chronicle reports that as Google positions itself as one of the largest data center developers in Texas, with plans to invest $40 billion in the state over the coming years, the leftist Silicon Valley giant has also pledged to replenish more water than its data centers consume by 2030. Google has also committed to publicly reporting usage numbers as part of an initiative to establish what it calls a responsible water management blueprint.
However, critics argue the investment falls short of addressing mounting concerns about data centers depleting Texas’s already strained water resources and overburdening the electric grid. Top Republican lawmakers are examining the issue before the next legislative session, while some local communities are attempting to block data center projects entirely.
“$10 million doesn’t buy much of anything,” said Perry Fowler, the executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network, a construction trade coalition. “It may help one little town with their system, but if you’re talking about any significant investment in infrastructure, that’s a drop in the bucket.”
Breitbart News previously reported that a massive data center in Georgia used 30 million gallons of water without paying for it:
The situation came to light after homeowners in Annelise Park, an affluent neighborhood in Fayetteville, Georgia, began experiencing unusually weak water pressure. When Fayette County utility officials investigated the complaints, they uncovered two industrial-scale water connections serving a data center campus located about 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta. One connection had been installed without the utility’s knowledge, while the other was not tied to the company’s billing account.
The facility’s developer, Quality Technology Services, had used almost 30 million gallons of unaccounted-for water, equivalent to 44 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This volume substantially exceeded the peak usage limit established during the data center’s approval process. The Fayette County water system detailed the charges in a May 15, 2025 letter to QTS, demanding $147,474 in retroactive payments.
Data center developers have been drawn to Texas over the past year by cheap land, minimal regulations, and access to low-cost energy. Hundreds of data centers housing servers that power artificial intelligence are either planned or already under construction throughout the state. Texas has struggled to forecast future water consumption by data centers, but available projections indicate a dramatic increase. A recent University of Texas report calculated that in a high-growth scenario, demand could surge to 22 times the estimated current water use by 2040, representing nine percent of the state’s total water consumption.
The company currently operates two data centers in Texas with at least six additional facilities in development, according to Google announcements and data from Cleanview, a company that tracks data center projects. Most centers are planned around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, though one has been proposed in Gray County west of Amarillo, which relies primarily on groundwater from the stressed Ogallala Aquifer.
According to Google’s 2025 annual report, its Midlothian, Texas data center consumed 182.3 million gallons of water in 2024, equivalent to approximately 276 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The company has not yet disclosed how the $10 million water fund will be allocated. Ben Townsend, Google’s head of infrastructure and sustainability, said the company will collaborate with local nonprofits and water stewardship agencies to identify projects. He noted Google has already invested in water projects statewide, including irrigation efficiency efforts in the Panhandle, longleaf pine forest restoration in East Texas, and water rights leases to increase streamflow in the San Saba River. The company declined to share total spending to date.
Townsend acknowledged that opposition to data centers is often justified. “There are no-name companies showing up and saying, ‘I want a bunch of water, I’m not gonna tell you why, and I’m not gonna tell how much I use,’” he said. “And people are rightfully concerned, especially in a state with the type of water scarcity that Texas has.”
He expressed optimism that communities will be able to demand similar commitments from other companies. “My hope is that they’re empowered with this sort of checklist or blueprint of what best-in-class water management looks like,” Townsend said.
Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas GOP strategist who founded the Alliance for Secure AI Action, said various concerns have fueled local opposition to data centers and that Google’s water commitments are unlikely to change sentiment. “That’s good that they’re doing that. But I don’t think it’s enough,” he said.
Silicon Valley’s relentless growth into middle America to build AI data centers brings with it serious side effects for their unsuspecting neighbors as well as intense pressure on state and local governments. Breitbart News social media director Wynton Hall has written his instant bestseller Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI to serve as the definitive guide on how the MAGA movement can create positions on AI that benefit humanity without handing control of our nation to the leftists of Silicon Valley or allowing the Chinese to take over the world.
Read more at Houston Chronicle here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.