Water advocates in Hays County have identified five potential data center developments in the region that they plan to protest. The organizers said they are hopeful after the San Marcos City Council blocked another proposed data center last Wednesday.
With the 5-2 vote, the proposed site located at 904 Francis Harris Lane in San Marcos will not move forward at this time. Hundreds of speakers showed up at the council meeting with concerns ranging from accessing water for their generations-old ranches to being able to safely swim in rivers around San Marcos. These issues — opponents say — still exist for the other potential sites in the region.
"These data centers affect not only residents of San Marcos, but anyone who loves to go to the river, anyone who lives in Central Texas," said Chia Guillory, a librarian in San Marcos.
Other proposed sites
Organizers have flagged several projects they're keeping an eye on throughout or just outside of Hays County. Of the five projects currently being watched, two are in Caldwell County, but organizers said the developments would directly impact Hays County residents' access to water, including drawing from the Edwards Aquifer.
Another site they are watching is a proposed Cloudburst data center just up the road from the project that was blocked. Construction was projected to start last May but still hasn't broken ground.
Cloudburst did not respond to KUT's request for comment about the project.
The fight over the data center that was just blocked isn't over yet either. The developers can resubmit their proposal in six months, but they have not said whether they plan to do so.
With all of these proposed or initiated projects, Hays County residents are questioning the county's plans to manage water use.
Throughout Central Texas, at least 14 different counties are experiencing moderate to extreme drought including Hays, Travis, Williamson, Guadalupe and Caldwell. The strain on the watershed has been felt throughout the region, with aquifers within Hays County reaching historic lows.
Countywide moratorium debate
At a county commissioner's meeting Tuesday, approximately four dozen speakers showed up or submitted online comments in support of a countywide moratorium on building permits for high water use developments. Organizers cited concerns of water and energy consumption.
The moratorium, which was proposed last week by Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra, would have paused the approval of water intensive building permits for 30 days.
"As we face a severe and worsening water crisis, with our aquifer levels descending to historic lows, we are no longer looking at a dry spell, we are looking at a potential catastrophe," Becerra said.
The 30-day pause, Becerra said, would have allowed the county time to look at impacts of intensive water usage and review development procedures.
The county commissioners, all of whom agreed on needing to find a plan to better protect water throughout Hays County, eventually decided to table the discussion.
The delay was in large part because of questions of legality. Chase Young, Hays County assistant criminal district attorney, said that the county would be opening itself up to "significant legal liability" by granting the moratorium.
Hood County commissioners rejected a similar moratorium proposal on Feb. 10 after Hood County Attorney Matthew A. Mills cited a letter from state Sen. Paul Bettencourt to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warning that counties have no constitutional or statutory authority to impose development moratoriums.
After the Hays County Commissioner meeting ended, Zane Porterfield, an educator for The Watershed Association, said she was relieved by the decision.
"We need to be smart about the next steps because there's reason to believe the state government is looking for a county to make an example of," Porterfield said.
What's next for organizers
Some potential action opportunities identified by organizers include pushing for the building permit moratorium, assembling a countywide task force and working to further restrict water use permissions on water-intensive building projects.
Organizers are also working on ways to continue to motivate people to stay with, what they say, will be a long fight.
" What happens next is we continue gathering information and disseminating it out to the people and hopefully keep up the momentum that we saw," Saunders Drukker, an organizer with the Data Center Action Coalition, said.
Sloan Rucker, another organizer with the coalition, said one goal is to get Clearwater Underground Water Conservation District to classify the current drought status as critical. This would result in mandatory restrictions aimed at reducing water consumption by 40%.
These restrictions can include construction water limitations, reduced pumping access and irrigation bans.
Hays County residents are not the only ones concerned about data centers in their backyard. On Monday, residents from Round Rock and surrounding areas organized at the Capitol calling for a statewide special legislative session to discuss water use and data center restrictions.
Part of the desire to connect with other counties is a recognition that these data centers don't just impact the communities where they are built.
"This isn't just about San Marcos or Hays County water… this is about all of Central Texas," Drukker said.
Copyright 2026 KUT News