Data centers have to report water usage, under new Utah law

SALT LAKE CITY — The owners of a planned data center in Box Elder County will be subject to a new Utah law about water reporting requirements that coincidentally just went into effect on Wednesday.

“When it comes to this proposed project in Box Elder County, they will have to report 90 days prior to construction what their estimated water use would look like and then there’s annual reporting required,” said Representative Jill Koford, the sponsor of the bill. 

Koford clarified that this legislation did not come about because of a specific data center plan, like the one in Box Elder County that has been drawing a lot of criticism. She said she is heavily involved in water policy and this law was conceptualized before the last legislative session when she and other leaders were talking about ways to help the Great Salt Lake.

“It just seemed like there was a natural opportunity as we talk about AI and the development of data centers and just how much that industry is growing, that we need to have an idea of if they’re coming to Utah and what that looks like,” Koford explained.

Koford said other states have had a hard time getting legislation like this off the ground but Utah leaders have been watching the evolution of the AI industry and anticipate this could become an issue if guardrails are not in place.

She said data center operators in general have moved away from cooling systems that require billions of gallons of water and many have since transitioned to air cooling and other methods.

Still, she wants all data center operators to be mindful of their water usage, and be good partners if they are going to come to Utah.

“This is a critical resource in our state and we want to ensure that whatever industry is coming here is mindful of that,” Koford said.

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Read more: Utah lawmakers pass water reporting requirement for large data centers