Bill > AB2619

This bill requires owners and operators of data centers—facilities that house large-scale computing and server infrastructure to process and store electronic data—to report specific water-use estimates and data to local water suppliers and city or county authorities under penalty of perjury. Specifically, before applying for an initial business license, equivalent instrument, or permit, data center operators must provide a good faith estimate of their expected water sources and projected water volumes for peak days and months, as well as an average year, and submit this same information on their licensing applications. Furthermore, when renewing these licenses or permits, operators must report their actual annual water use from the preceding year, broken down by total and direct use, alongside details about their cooling systems. To help communities better plan for resource constraints driven by heavy water-consuming industries, the legislation also amends the Urban Water Management Planning Act—a state law requiring public and private water providers to outline their long-term resource reliability—to explicitly factor in the "unconstrained demand" (the estimated water needed without restrictions) of data centers and other large water users during annual supply and demand assessments.