The owners of a planned data center in Box Elder County will be subject to a new Utah law about water reporting requirements that coincidentally just went into effect on Wednesday. “When it comes to this proposed project in Box Elder County, they will have to report 90 days prior to construction what their estimated water use would look like and then there’s annual reporting required,” said Representative Jill Koford, the sponsor of the bill. Koford clarified that this legislation did not come about because of a specific data center plan, like the one in Box Elder County that has been drawing a lot of criticism. She said she is heavily involved in water policy and this law was conceptualized before the last legislative session when she and other leaders were talking about ways to help the Great Salt Lake.

Other data center water use news:

• The Arizona Republic (Phoenix): Tucson says data center developer took water without approval
• Arizona Public Media: Project Blue developers improperly used Tucson water, city has shut it off
• KLAS (Las Vegas): Las Vegas data center research explores impact of state’s 60+ facilities
• FOX13 (Salt Lake City): Despite concerns, central Utah residents mostly welcome new data center
• The National Interest: Blog: The US military is branching into data centers. Has it thought this through?