Nebraska Mandates Water Disclosure After Google Consumption Surge

The Nebraska Legislature passed a law during its 2026 session requiring data center operators to disclose their annual water use and power demand. The Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment will begin collecting this data later this year to address growing resource concerns in drought-stricken regions.

This legislative action follows reports from Google, which disclosed that its data centers in Omaha, Papillion, and Lincoln consumed approximately 732.1 million gallons of water in 2025. This represents a sharp increase from 134.7 million gallons in 2023 and 46.6 million gallons in 2022. For comparison, Google's facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa, consumed 1.3 billion gallons in the same year.

Local residents and water professionals have expressed concern that such developments could deplete water supplies, particularly regarding a potential Tenaska project in Gage County. While some experts argue that data center usage remains small relative to Nebraska's agricultural irrigation needs, industry leaders like the CEO of T5 Data Centers have supported transparency to prevent bad actors from exploiting regional resources.