California
California’s 2026 data-center laws changed the filing, not the hydrology.
AB 2469 stops a city or county from approving a data center that increases peak water use unless the applicant provides a water-supply assessment, projected use, and efficiency measures. Beginning January 1, 2028, the filing also needs a water-scarcity plan: staged reductions across drought levels. The applicant pays for the conveyance, treatment, storage, or distribution the water supplier says the project requires.
AB 2619 runs through the business license. Before the first license, the operator gives the water supplier a good-faith estimate of maximum-day, maximum-month, and average-year use, and the source, under penalty of perjury. At renewal, the filing is actual annual use, including cooling, and the cooling-system type. Those papers do not say whether the parcel fails in a drought. A desktop screen is the check before the filing. It is not the assessment the statute names, and it is not a commitment from the supplier.