A Senate bill would make data centers above 25 MW report energy and water use
S. 4213, the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026, introduced 25 March 2026 by Senator Durbin, would require operators of data centers with peak demand of at least 25 megawatts to file annual reports with their state, or with the EPA and the Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture where a state has no programme.
The verdict
Verified
The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.
Key facts
What the sources say
- Record ID
- AIA-2026-0005
- Kind
- Reporting and efficiency duties
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Last verified
- Added
- The reporting duty attaches to each data center with a peak demand of not less than 25 megawatts.
- Reports would cover total energy use for each month of the preceding calendar year, total water use and the source of that water for each month, and annual average power usage effectiveness and water usage effectiveness.
- If a data center relies on behind the meter power generation, the report must describe the method used to generate that power.
- Operators would also report projected energy and water use for at least the following five calendar years, with proposals for reducing both.
- Reports go to the state where a state programme exists, and otherwise to the EPA Administrator and the Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture jointly.
- A report must be made available to an affected unit of local government on request.
- The bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; it is a bill, not a law.
Figures
Every number, with who measured it and when
- 25 MW
Peak demand at which the bill's reporting duty attaches
S. 4213, Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026, GovInfo, primary source, as of .
What it changes
For an operator, a utility or a community
An operator should note the metric definitions the bill borrows: power usage effectiveness from ISO/IEC 30134-2 and water usage effectiveness from ISO/IEC 30134-9, which means the reported number has to be computed the way the standard says. A utility is not the filer here; the operator is. A community gets a right to ask its local government for the report, which is the first federal text that would place site level water figures in local hands.
Sources
What this record was verified against
- S. 4213, Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026, GovInfoPrimary · 25 March 2026
Related
Records that sit beside this one
The House companion to the data center water and energy reporting bill
United States · verified 15 September 2026
H.R. 9825 was introduced in the House on 22 July 2026 and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
No federal rule requires a United States data center to disclose its water use
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The only federal instruments found are bills: S. 4213 introduced 25 March 2026 and H.R. 9825 introduced 22 July 2026.
Open question: should a data center's water use be public, site by site
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The EU scheme collects water usage as a key performance indicator and publishes only aggregated figures at Member State and Union level.
Open question: does behind the meter generation escape interconnection rules
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The DOE proposal to FERC reaches loads that share a point of interconnection with new or existing generation, which is the colocation case.
Georgia SB 421 would stop local governments hiding data center water and power figures
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The bill targets the agreement, not the facility: it would prohibit local governments from signing away the public's access to usage figures.
State legislatures, not Washington, are writing the data center water rules
United States · verified 15 September 2026
California AB 1577 would require monthly reports to the State Energy Commission on energy and water consumption.
Cite this record
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID AIA-2026-0005 is permanent and is never reused.
- In a sentence
- According to the GAGE AI Infrastructure Atlas (as of 15 September 2026), a senate bill would make data centers above 25 mw report energy and water use.
- APA
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). A Senate bill would make data centers above 25 MW report energy and water use. AI Infrastructure Atlas. Retrieved 15 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/ai-infrastructure-atlas/records/AIA-2026-0005-data-center-water-and-energy-transparency-act-senate
- MLA
- "A Senate bill would make data centers above 25 MW report energy and water use." AI Infrastructure Atlas, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 15 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/ai-infrastructure-atlas/records/AIA-2026-0005-data-center-water-and-energy-transparency-act-senate.
- Chicago
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "A Senate bill would make data centers above 25 MW report energy and water use." AI Infrastructure Atlas. Last modified 15 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/ai-infrastructure-atlas/records/AIA-2026-0005-data-center-water-and-energy-transparency-act-senate.
- Permalink
- https://www.gage.academy/tools/ai-infrastructure-atlas/records/AIA-2026-0005-data-center-water-and-energy-transparency-act-senate
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