WATER ISSUES
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT NOW?
Every five years, The Brazos River Authority (BRA) conducts a planning study. The last study was in 2022 and predicts that at least one city in each of the 37 counties will have water shortages in the next 14 years (by 2036). The study did not account for the impact of datacenters. The next report comes out in 2027 and will also not include datacenter impact. Reality will continue to be worse than the forecast.
The Texas Water Development Board denotes most of the Brazos River as “Region G.”
While there is some overlap, generally speaking BRA is responsible for planning, forecasting and allotments, while TWDB is responsible for budgeting and mitigation projects.
A list of the reports available and counties is provided at the end of this Executive Summary.
Brazos River Authority 2022 REPORT
Texas Water Development Board Region G Water Plan
TWDB Socioeconomic Impact for Region G 2026 Report
WE ARE ALREADY IN A SEVERE DROUGHT:
As of April 11, 2026 we are in a Stage 1 drought and BRA expects us to hit Stage 2 by July.
PHOTOS OF BELTON LAKE DURING THE LAST STAGE 2 DROUGHT, AUG 2023:
From Suzanne M - local citizen who took these pics:
This was Lake Belton in August 2023. The water was so low it was scary. In 2019, the City of Temple agreed to let Niagara Bottling come here. This company takes water from Lake Belton, cleans it, puts it in bottles, and sells it back to people. The people who live here were not asked if they agreed. Now we are already in Stage 1 water restrictions, and summer hasn’t even started. Just three years ago, the lake was dangerously low. It was so low that the old bridge supports from Highway 36 could be seen lying on the dry lake bed. That should have been a warning. We live in an area that has droughts again and again. Water is precious here. But even knowing that, city leaders have made deals with not just one, but two AI data centers that will also use our water. We did not agree to put our water supply at risk. We did not agree to the loud noise from these centers. We did not agree to the extra heat from all that equipment. And we did not agree to give big companies tax breaks while families are struggling to stay in their homes. This is our water. This is our community. We deserve to be heard.
WHAT IS A WATER SHORTAGE:
In layman’s terms, it is when you turn on the faucet, and nothing comes out.
BUT THEY MUST HAVE A PLAN TO FIX IT:
They do, in the Region G report listed above, there is an 11-point plan to help mitigate water shortages, which includes dangerous and unpopular ASR wells.
We will talk more about ASR wells in a future update. Or you can help us with the research.
ROWAN SAYS THAT THEY AREN’T USING MORE THAN A FEW MILLION GALLONS ONCE IN 10 YEARS.
Rowan also brags about using a closed-loop system. There are more inconsistencies here.
Open-Loop Cooling
Also known as evaporative chillers are the “old-style” cooling systems that consumed 5 million gallons of water per day.
Closed-Loop Water Cooling
These are the newer systems Rowan claims to be using. They are 70-80% more efficient than Open-Loop systems but still consume up to 1.5 million gallons per day on a hot day, with annual averages claimed around 400,000 - 750,000 gallons per day.
Yet, Rowan is claiming their “closed-loop system” uses zero additional water.
The technology they describe does exist, it’s not typically called “closed-loop.” It usually has other names like “advanced cooling” but maybe they use the term closed-loop because it’s easier for normal people to understand. The problem lies in the cost.
Advanced Cooling
Advanced Cooling technologies operate the way Rowan is describing. However, the cost of such a system would be more than their total project budget, just for the cooling system. While costs have come down substantially in the past two years, the cooling system they are describing would cost approximately $900 million, again just for the cooling, and the total budget for the whole Project Temple is $700 million.
When asked about this, they said $700 million is their minimum commitment and the project will likely cost much more. They declined to answer whether cooling was the majority of their cost.
We are still investigating.
Disclosures
The City has finally disclosed the old water agreement with Moriah. It has since been cancelled but authorized less than 1 million gallons per day. In short, it was much smaller than we expected and again, it has been cancelled.
We still have not seen the meter or water agreement with Meta.
WELL, ROWAN MUST BE FOLLOWING THE RULES…..
Normally, a responsible industrial business would first contact the BRA to purchase an industrial water contract. These are sold by “acre-feet” in increments of approximately 325,000 gallons per year with a 3.2 million gallon minimum. It is normal for this process to take a year or more. If water is not available from the local River Authority, a company might approach a city for permission to buy part of their municipal water.
According to the BRA, Rowan never asked them.
BRA does not have any water to sell them. All the water in the Brazos River Basin is already allocated…and running out.
The BRA had already requested we decrease our water usage, but due to our town’s growth, our daily water usage is has increased by 30%. This growth does not include the water for data centers that Temple City Council has approved but are not yet online. At this rate, our water shortages will happen much sooner than 2036.
Instead of following the usual procedure, Rowan went straight to Temple City Council who granted multiple water utility agreements.
For comparison, Rowan is estimating office water use of 4.3 million gallons per year, well above the 3.2 million minimum of using proper channels. This also assumes their cooling system works as advertised which they have no evidence of experience with.
WHAT DOES BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY DO?
The Brazos River Authority is responsible for managing the water of the entire Brazos River Basin, covering 37 counties from Lubbock to Sugar Land, including Bell County, as well as McLennan (Waco) and Coryell (Ft Hood).
INTERVIEW WITH BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY:
See questions and answers HERE
WHAT HAPPENS TO DISCARDED WATER:
Every time we ask this question, we get a different answer. Perhaps the answer is different among Rowan’s different buildings?
The most recent answer from Rowan, and confirmed by the City Council, is that cooling waste water is tested before being released back into the city system and if it fails the test, then Rowan must use trucks to dispose of it elsewhere.
Temple water treatment plants are not capable of treating some of the chemicals that industries might use.
Inconsistencies in Their Story
There are a number of other inconsistencies when Rowan talks about water. They admit there is no plan to treat wastewater themselves. They claim they need 2 million gallons of water to charge the cooling system, and that water will last 10-15 years without needing any additional water for cooling.
They also claim they will not add any chemicals to the cooling water.
These statements do not agree.
Based on similar systems, it is highly unlikely the system can last 10-15 years without anti-corrosive chemicals. Common industry practices also include anti-microbial chemicals. Again, our water treatment plant is not capable of extracting these chemicals.
Something doesn’t add up.
As of April 11, 2026, there is no proof of an operational or successful datacenter built by Rowan.
To try and find some data to support their claims, we asked for examples of a working datacenter. Rowan claimed several times over several months that their Bauxite I datacenter in Maryland is up and running. Multiple reporters contacted the local news and the County of Frederick, Maryland and all reports said the facility was not online.
At the Temple City Council meeting on Apr 16, 2026, representatives from Rowan finally recanted that claim. We see this as further evidence that we cannot trust the word of Rowan.
The lack of concern from our City Council over these inconsistencies highlights a serious lack of judgement. We need to find more competent representatives to serve on our City Council and stop this bleeding.
IF YOU WEREN’T SURE, WHY NOT JUST ASK THE CITY:
In short, we did. We all did. Several times. Over several months.
We have also asked the City for the Utility Agreements covering Meta and all of Rowan’s datacenters, including Moriah. They have only responded to Moriah so far.
The consistent claim is that Rowan has an agreement for only & up to 4,000 gallons daily for administrative use, per project (Temple, Stampede and Ranger). We are concerned about unexpected additional water needed for cooling, for example maintenance issues arising from not using anti-corrosives.
We have confirmed that the Moriah water agreement did not supply enough water to use the old-style closed-loop systems.
Who hides public records that could support what they are asking the public to believe? Does that make sense to you? It sure doesn’t make sense to me, neighbor.
TRANSPARENCY ON OUR WATER RESOURCES DURING A DROUGHT SHOULD BE AS CLEAR AS WE WANT OUR WATER.