Locals vs. Tech Giants: The Battle Over Water and Power in Waco’s Backyard

Residents in central Texas are fighting back against a proposed data center.

Plans For a McLennan County Data Center are Not Receiving a Warm Welcome

Hundreds of acres in unincorporated McLennan County may be the future home of a data center, but dozens of residents want no part of it. Neighbors in the Lacy Lakeview area have signed a petition in an effort to prevent the data center from being built on 520 acres of farmland west of Elm Mott.

InfraKey Data Center

According to KXXV, Lacy Lakeview and McLennan County currently in talks about the 10 billion dollar project. The company's website shows the Waco Portfolio Project includes "up to six" total data centers.

What is a Data Center?

Computers run on data, and data centers are the buildings that house the equipment used by computers. Data Center growth has exploded following the rise of artificial intelligence and with it, concern over the impact these centers will have on the environment and the humans that live nearby.

Data Centers Devour Electricity and Water

The main concern with data centers is the drain on community resources. An NPR investigation found that a single ChatGPT search uses ten times more electricity than a search on Google. A 2024 Forbes investigation in 2024 found that a conversation with ChatGPT used the equivalent of a bottle of water.

Data Centers Affect on the Electric Grid

Many are unaware of the fact that tax payer dollars are funding grid infrastructure updates every time a new data center is constructed. Due to the increased data center demand, residential electric bills are projected to more than double by the year 2039.