California lawmakers passed seven bills aimed at increasing oversight of data centers in the final days of the legislative session and sent the measures to Gov. Gavin Newsom for consideration. Among the bills are proposals from Bay Area Assemblymembers Diane Papan and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan that would require greater disclosure of water and energy use by data center operators. … Papan’s legislation focuses on water use before and after a data center begins operating. One bill would require developers to disclose projected water use. “It requires data centers to inform localities of how much water they’re going to use prior to construction,” Papan said.

Other data center water use news:

• The Mendocino Voice (Calif.): Mendocino County supes ban data centers—for the moment, at least
• KUNR (Reno, Nev.): Northern Nevada tribes speak out against data centers
• The Hill: Lutnick claims that data centers, known for water consumption, ‘don’t use water’
• Politico: Commentary: Lawmakers’ hot data summer
• Capitol Weekly (Sacramento, Calif.): Opinion: If AI data centers are coming, communities should set the terms