Data Center Water Tracker Update: September 9, 2026

The Data Center Water Tracker now carries 101 measures across federal, state, local and interstate levels (28 federal, 33 state, 37 local, 3 interstate), 40 of them enacted, alongside 115 published data center water figures covering all fifty states. Every entry links to its primary source.

New this period (6)

• Lake County, Illinois, Chapter 151 moratorium ordinance: Eight months, and a legal definition of a data center. Enacted, Adopted Sep 8, 2026. An amendment to Chapter 151 of the county code establishing an eight-month moratorium on data center applications in unincorporated Lake County, running through May 2027 or until regulations are adopted, and creating a legal definition of a data center where the county previously had none. Source
• Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, 120-day data center moratorium: A pause in a service area that may not qualify for a groundwater permit. Proposed, First reading Sep 8, 2026. A 120-day moratorium on requests related to data centers, giving town leaders and staff time to gather information on environmental impacts and decide what restrictions to adopt, while leaving smaller business-related data facilities unaffected. Source
• Jasper County, South Carolina, Data center and cryptocurrency mining moratorium: A pause covering incentives as well as permits. Proposed, First reading Sep 8, 2026. A temporary pause on accepting, reviewing and approving applications for data centers, data processing facilities and cryptocurrency mining operations, extending to rezoning requests, building permits, site plans and economic incentives tied to those projects. Source
• Orange County, Florida, Proposed one-year data center moratorium: A pause proposed against a projected groundwater shortfall. Proposed, Filed Sep 5, 2026. A moratorium of at least one year on new data center applications while the county studies water and power impacts and writes land development code language for data centers, which the code currently does not address. Source
• United States, Water Cost Accountability Act discussion draft: Ratepayers would stop paying to connect data centers. Proposed, Hearing Sep 3, 2026. States receiving drinking water grant funds would have to prohibit public water systems from billing any customer other than a large-scale data center for the incremental cost of connecting or expanding capacity to serve that data center, and the Environmental Protection Agency would report to Congress on the sources of water used by qualified data centers, defined as facilities whose water intake averages more than 200,000 gallons a day. Source
• Mattoon, Illinois, One-year data center moratorium: A half-acre threshold and an annual renewal. Enacted, Adopted Sep 1, 2026. The city will not accept new applications for data centers larger than 21,780 square feet, about half an acre, inside Mattoon or in the area up to 1.5 miles beyond the city limits where it holds zoning authority. Existing businesses may continue operating. The moratorium renews each year unless the council acts to change or end it. Source

Newly located from earlier periods (5)

Added to the tracker this week, adopted or introduced earlier. These are not this week’s activity.

• Mead, Colorado, 12-month data center moratorium: A year to write water and infrastructure rules. Enacted, Adopted Aug 31, 2026. Source
• New Jersey, S3379 / A4096 (P.L.2026, c.75): Semi-annual water and energy reports to the Board of Public Utilities. Enacted, Signed Aug 27, 2026. Source
• Wixom, Michigan, Data center zoning ordinance amendments: Well water barred outright for data centers. Enacted, Adopted Aug 26, 2026. Source
• United States, H.R. 10005: Data Center Resource Disclosure Act. Proposed, Introduced Jul 30, 2026. Source
• United States, H.R. 10004: Defending Our Energy and Water Act. Proposed, Introduced Jul 30, 2026. Source

The standing position

• 8 states have a published statewide or regional measured aggregate and draw a bar: AZ, CA, NE, NV, OH, TX, VA, WY.
• 23 states have published figures at facility or instrument level only, with no state total.
• 19 states have no measured data center water volume published by anyone.

That ratio is the tracker’s central finding. The disclosure bills it follows exist because this figure is, almost everywhere, not collected.

The full tracker, with every state’s file, the federal accordion, and all sources, is at savrn.com/data-center-water-tracker. All citations are on the sources page.