Texas Data Centers Slash Water Use by 95% With New Tech

Texas data centers are proving they can grow without draining the state's water supply, using breakthrough cooling technology that slashes consumption by up to 95 percent.

The game changer is closed-loop cooling systems that seal liquid in a circuit, absorbing heat from servers and recycling it endlessly. Dallas-based Skybox Datacenters now runs facilities that use less water than five typical Texas households.

One Skybox building needs just 30,000 gallons once to charge its system. That's about the same amount as filling a backyard pool, said Chief Development Officer Haynes Strader.

The contrast with old-style data centers is stunning. Traditional facilities cooled servers with millions of gallons of water daily, most of which evaporated into the air and was lost forever.

At the massive Stargate Campus in Abilene, slated to become one of the world's largest data center projects, the numbers tell an even more impressive story. The city offered developers 500 gallons per minute, but the three operational buildings used only 20 gallons per minute last month.

That's less than 5 percent of what was allocated, even with 8,500 workers on site building the 10-square-mile facility.

Developer Lancium is going further at its Childress location. The company pulls 11,000 gallons daily but plans to give back 1 million gallons per day to the Red River Water Authority by accessing unused aquifer water that farmers couldn't afford to reach.

The timing couldn't be better for Texas. The state water board reports 85 percent of Texas is currently in drought, with nearly a quarter facing extreme or exceptional conditions.

In Corpus Christi, the situation is dire. Years of severe drought combined with petrochemical industry demands have nearly emptied coastal reservoirs, putting the city months away from potential industrial shutdowns.

The Bright Side

This water revolution in data centers shows how innovation can turn a looming crisis into a non-issue. Industry data reveals only 20 percent of Texas's 800 megawatts of operational data centers still use old evaporative cooling, and that number keeps shrinking.

Skybox hasn't built an evaporative cooling system since 2016. As Texas prepares to surpass Virginia as the world's data center construction leader, the industry is choosing conservation over consumption.

The shift proves that economic growth and environmental responsibility don't have to compete. Engineers found solutions where others saw only scarcity, and now Texas communities can welcome new jobs and investment without sacrificing their water future.