House water bill targets 200,000 gallons a day

House Energy and Commerce is examining a draft Water Cost Accountability Act whose reporting threshold is a data center taking more than 200,000 gallons per day on average. The committee’s announcement says states receiving revolving-loan funds could bar public water systems from charging customers for data-center connections or expansion, shifting recovery to owners; a separate Ratepayer Bill of Rights Act introduced August 24 would cover facilities at 50 megawatts or 100,000 gallons a day and prohibit project costs from moving to ratepayers. Builders planning large AI infrastructure should treat water access and cost recovery as permitting variables, not utility footnotes.