Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026

Plain-English Summary: Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026

This bill would require data centers — the large facilities that store and process the digital information behind websites, apps, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence — to publicly report how much water and electricity they use. Data centers are known to consume enormous amounts of both resources, but currently there is no federal requirement for companies to disclose this information. The bill aims to make that consumption visible to the public and policymakers.

Under the bill, data center operators would likely need to track and share specific metrics about their resource usage, such as how many gallons of water they use for cooling systems and how many kilowatt-hours of electricity they consume to power their servers. This kind of reporting would create a clearer national picture of the environmental footprint of the digital economy, which has grown rapidly in recent years partly due to the expansion of artificial intelligence and streaming services.

The bill would primarily affect companies that operate large data centers, including major technology firms and cloud service providers. It could also have indirect effects on local communities and utility systems near data centers, where residents and officials often have concerns about strain on water supplies and power grids. Consumers and environmental advocates who want more accountability from the tech industry would gain access to information that is currently difficult to obtain. The bill has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, meaning it is still in the early stages of the legislative process.