Big data centers must report water and power use each year.
H.R. 9825 — Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026 · Filed by Lauren Underwood (D-IL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
Data centers with at least 25 megawatts of power must report to their state. They must say how much water and power they use. They must also plan how to use less over five years. States and the federal government will share this data with the public. States can charge data centers fees to pay for collecting the data. The federal government can fine data centers $20,000 per day for not reporting right.
Who it affects
Large data center companies must report their water and power use. States and the federal government will collect and share the reports. People can see how much water and power data centers use.
One thing to notice
The bill makes data centers share facts about water and power use. This data was not public before.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Jul 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- data center — A large building with many computers that store and process information for companies.
- megawatts — A measure of how much power something uses. One megawatt is enough to power about 1,000 homes.
- federal government — The main government of the United States that makes laws for the whole country.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (9,836 characters) on Jul 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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