Rep. Sykes, Scholten Lead Water Reservoir Transparency Act to Improve Water Resource Planning

Rep. Sykes, Scholten Lead Water Reservoir Transparency Act to Improve Water Resource Planning

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representatives Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Hilary Scholten (MI-03), who serve together on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, have introduced a bill to protect and strengthen water resources in Ohio and across the country. The Water Reservoir Transparency Act would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to assess how new commercial and industrial users are impacting water reservoirs. As data centers come online in Ohio and across the country, understanding their impacts on the nation's water reservoirs is critical to smart water resource planning.

"With the increased concern about data centers' water usage, this legislation will help us better understand the impact on our clean water supply," said Rep. Sykes.

"Water is a way of life in West Michigan; it is crucial that we are proactive in protecting this vital resource," said Rep. Scholten. "As more data centers come online and put new pressure on our reservoirs, the Army Corps can't keep operating with outdated planning processes. We can build a smarter, more transparent system, and this bill gets us there."

Ohio is home to 217 data centers, the fifth most in the nation, including 12 in Ohio's 13th Congressional District. Many of these facilities use evaporative cooling systems, in which water absorbs heat from servers and is then released through evaporation. As a result, water demand can increase significantly during peak summer months. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, depending on a facility's size and design, a single data center may consume between 300,000 and 5 million gallons of water per day, comparable in some cases to the daily water use of a small city.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already evaluates data centers as part of broader infrastructure planning and environmental compliance efforts, supported by research from its Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). This legislation would formalize a clearer, publicly accessible understanding of how new commercial and industrial water users affect reservoir levels and long-term system capacity.