California puts water disclosure and infrastructure costs on data centres
Sweetwater Authority, California · Meeting date: October 15, 2026 · Published: October 16, 2026
Sweetwater Authority has reviewed new California laws requiring greater scrutiny of data-centre water demand and placing responsibility for necessary supply infrastructure on project applicants. The committee heard that data centres dominated the state’s limited water-policy action during the 2026 legislative session.
Key points
- AB 2469 requires specified conditions before local governments can approve a data-centre project or expansion that raises maximum peak water use, including a water-scarcity plan and water-supply assessment.
- Under AB 2469, applicants must assume the full cost of water conveyance, treatment, storage or distribution improvements required to serve the project, as determined by the applicable water supplier.
- AB 2619 requires data-centre owners and operators to give their water supplier good-faith estimates of projected maximum-day, maximum-month and average-year water use before seeking an initial local licence or permit.
- Sweetwater’s Sacramento advocate said the enacted water legislation was otherwise focused on niche issues rather than major water or infrastructure policy.
Full report
California’s response to the water implications of data-centre development is moving from broad concern to disclosure and cost-allocation requirements, according to legislation reviewed by Sweetwater Authority’s Legislative Affairs and Communications Committee on 15 October.
The committee received a summary of water-related bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsom during the 2025-26 legislative term. Two measures, AB 2469 and AB 2619, establish new requirements for data-centre projects whose demand can affect water-system planning and capital needs.
AB 2469 prohibits a city, county, or city and county from approving a discretionary or ministerial permit or other entitlement for a new data centre—or an expansion that increases maximum peak water use—unless specified conditions are met. Among the information required from an applicant are a water-scarcity plan and a water-supply assessment.
The law also makes the applicant responsible for the full cost of any water conveyance, treatment, storage or distribution infrastructure improvements needed to serve the project, as determined by the applicable water supplier.
AB 2619 adds a supplier-facing reporting obligation. Before applying for an initial business licence, equivalent instrument or permit from a city or county, a data-centre owner or operator must provide its water supplier, under penalty of perjury, with a good-faith estimate of expected water use, the anticipated source of supply, and projected demand for the maximum day, maximum month and average year. Renewal applications must report the prior calendar year’s annual water use, including total and direct water use as prescribed.
Committee members said data centres had been the principal water-related issue attracting legislative attention. A director said public reaction to data centres had driven the Legislature’s response, including measures concerning water and electricity rates, land use and disclosure.
Sweetwater’s Sacramento advocate characterised 2026 as not "a milestone year in water policy", saying the bills signed into law were largely focused on niche issues, including invasive mussels and wildfire preparedness, rather than major infrastructure policy. He said the cost of water projects and constrained state funding sources remained obstacles to wider progress.
The advocate urged water agencies to prepare priorities and continue pressing a new state administration for funding and policy action. Sweetwater staff said the Authority would be in Sacramento the following week for meetings intended to advance that advocacy.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Legislative Affairs and Communications Committee, Sweetwater Authority