Require Full Disclosure Before Approving AI Data Centers
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When data centers are proposed in our communities, we should ask local officials, utilities, and developers to publish a clear resilience disclosure before approval:
What is the projected water use?
Where will the electricity come from?
How will the facility perform during heat waves, floods, drought, wildfire smoke, or grid stress?
Will backup systems depend on diesel, scarce water, or fragile supply chains?
Who bears the cost if the project strains local infrastructure?
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I support technological progress, including AI, but the data center buildout must be transparent, resilient, and fair to the public.
A new First Street climate risk assessment found that 54% of global data center capacity already operates under chronic heat or water stress, while 79% is exposed to acute risks such as flood, wind, or wildfire. The report warns that climate risk is still underpriced even though it affects uptime, insurance, financing, grid reliability, and long-term infrastructure performance.
Please support federal guardrails requiring AI and large data centers to disclose their projected water use, electricity demand, backup power plans, emissions, climate risk exposure, and expected impacts on local infrastructure before projects are approved or fast-tracked.
Specifically, I ask you to support or co-sponsor S. 4213, the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026. For the House, please support H.R. 8488, the AI Data Center Site Selection Transparency Act of 2026, and related ratepayer-protection bills such as H.R. 8033 and H.R. 6529.
No community should be asked to subsidize Big Tech’s power bill, sacrifice water security, or accept hidden climate risk behind NDAs. Build the digital future, but build it responsibly.
Sincerely,
Rodney B. Murray, PhD
Aquifers don’t need to be drained to meet our energy and water needs. A practical, evidence-based path forward is to use nuclear power in ways that protect groundwater while still delivering reliable energy and fresh water.
First, modern nuclear reactors can be built to use very little water. Several small modular designs now use air cooling instead of the traditional water-cooling systems. By switching to air cooling, these plants can cut their water use by more than 90%, which is a big difference in places where rivers and aquifers are already stressed. This means we can build clean energy where it’s needed without pulling large amounts of water from the ground.
Second, nuclear power can help us make fresh water from the sea. Desalination needs steady electricity and, for some methods, process heat. Nuclear reactors are well suited for this because they provide consistent, large-scale power. Integrated nuclear desalination projects have already been tested and operated in several countries, with more than 150 reactor-years of experience. In practice, this means seawater can be turned into drinking water or irrigation water without burning fossil fuels or tapping aquifers.
Third, there is a useful nuclear technique for understanding aquifers themselves. Isotope hydrology uses nuclear methods to trace where groundwater comes from, how old it is, and how it moves through the ground. This gives scientists and water managers a kind of “fingerprint” for an aquifer, so they can see whether withdrawals are sustainable and how recharge is happening. With that information, communities can set withdrawal limits that match natural recharge, keeping aquifers healthy over time.
In oil and gas regions like the Permian Basin, there is another angle. SMRs could provide the heat and electricity needed to treat highly saline “produced water” from drilling. If that water can be cleaned and reused, it reduces the need for fresh water and lessens pressure on disposal wells that can affect local groundwater.
Taken together, the picture is straightforward: nuclear power can supply clean energy with very little water use, produce fresh water from the sea, and give us better tools to manage groundwater. That combination lets us meet energy and water needs without draining aquifers.
https://youtu.be/eAc7Riz7qlc