Kansas Water Regulations, Data Centers, and Power Generation:
Despite signing cap agreements, data center companies and similar industries hide behind MORE NDAs (after those initial NDAs our public servants sign) to keep municipalities from disclosing their usage. These local regulations are absolutely necessary when allowing data centers into an area, we absolutely should have high standards locally.
However, the counties point to regulations falling on the State of Kansas (because KS owns all the water). Locals have stated the same thing when concerns of water usage have come up.
But let me remind you that, 1.) the State of Kansas is who SOLD US OUT to these gluttons, (in my opinion). If they had any intention of protecting Kansas, I don’t believe they would’ve opened the gates to these industries.
2.) In addition, industrial use, along with mining and power generation, is recognized as a legitimate beneficial use in Kansas. Under Kansas statute, beneficial use requires that water is applied to a specific, authorized purpose (e.g., irrigation, industrial) rather than wasted; and also it is a USE, not an ownership.
ok … (This is personal research, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, and is not complete.)
PRIORITY
Per the Kansas statutes on water usage (K.S.A. 82a-707) the priority hierarchy isn’t only by category (domestic to –> municipal to –> agricultural to –> industrial) BUT FIRST BY DATE OF RIGHTS.
Per K.S.A. 82a-707, this priority system only fully kicks in during impairment/ shortages- and even then, there are multiple legal ways that let “large users” secure water over the people/farm land!
Through K.S.A. 82a-708b, data centers and emerging industries get around this hierarchy/priority use when “supply is not sufficient to satisfy all water rights,” legally by:
going directly to the municipalities for their agreements. Cities hold municipal water rights, which rank above industrial use in shortage and impairment conditions.
Because they then sell water to: data centers, “industrial” customers, and power generation facilities, these industries are permitted- their usage falls under municipalities. Municipal rights are more protected in shortages per priority in KS statutes, therefore they can continue providing water to these industries *even through shortages.*
It would seem while we run dry, the water providers (cities? counties?) stand to make millions?
(I also ask- what happens to cost when demand goes up? …)
K.S.A. 82a-701 defines beneficial use such that I believe industrial cooling (data centers, power plants), manufacturing, and mining evaporation all qualify. But because beneficial use is so broad a term, those who are regulating don’t decide whether its allowed, but perhaps instead ask:
A. Is water available?
B. Does impairment exist?(impairment has to be proven, as you’ll see. it cannot be implied.)
They basically find loop holes provided by Kansas state regulations and local water providers.
Hang with me, last thing!
Why Rural users are also affected:
To get around that pesky part of the KS statutes that say priority goes by oldest rights, large users don’t apply as JUNIOR (aka new) users.
They buy oldest existing water rights (often agricultural), file a change application under K.S.A. 82a-708b, then convert it to industrial or municipal use. This keeps the original (earlier) priority date!
Thus allowing a DC to effectively operate with a senior agricultural priority date. And as stated above, they can have municipal and industrial rights as well.
It seems like they have more protection than we do!
? But local and state officials can stop data centers if they’re causing problems, right?
Kansas ground water is managed under: Safe yield policies, Local districts like Kansas Department of Agriculture, and Division of Water Resources Groundwater Management Districts.
But once the permits are approved, priority enforcement seems to be rare unless wells are directly impaired. BUT THEN it’s very difficult to prove impairment, the steps involve a lot of tests, modeling, legal action, and MONEY. LOTS of money, and also months to years to accomplish.
So farmers and rural well users not only have a hard time proving it’s the fault of the large industrial user with new or older rights causing their impairment, but then have to find a way to survive in the years it may take to fix the problem! So a system of protection exists on paper, but in execution we THE PEOPLE are NOT first priority on a day to day basis, and during a drought we aren’t really protected.
History proves: Ever. Because we aren’t the big bill payer/ tax base anymore, allegedly. It’s the large water user! (This same logic applies to utilites/electric/gas. That’s a post for another day.)
You can look at:
-The Walnut Creek / Quivira National Wildlife Refuge impairment fight,
-The Rattlesnake Creek Basin / LEMA,
-The Republican River Compact disputes, and
-GMD 4 & High Plains aquifer declines
as real life examples to dig through
Enjoy!
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A few more food for thought items:
**70 million gallons of water consumed in a county outside of Atlanta, GA. That was ONE data center’s water usage just in the last year, via records someone had to fight to get. The area of Atlanta has an estimated 152-200+ data centers.
“Unfortunately, we have witnessed a troubling pattern in Wisconsin and throughout our country — community leaders are signing secrecy deals with big tech companies and their agents to conceal material facts about the development of billion-dollar data centers from the public,” said Sen. Andre Jacque”
“A data center industry lobbyist opposed the measure, asserting that a ban on non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, could stall Wisconsin’s emergence as a prime data center location.
“https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/02/18/non-disclosure-agreements-energy-costs-focus-of-data-center-hearing/#:~:text=By:%20Erik%20Gunn%20-%20February%2018,his%20testimony%20on%20the%20measure.
“Unless municipal governments disclose information—which tech companies are working to prevent them from doing—state regulators have few opportunities to get involved.”
ttps://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CQJReUY1b/s
https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch82a/082a_007_0007.html
https://progressive.org/latest/tech-giants-are-trying-to-cover-up-the-environmental-impacts-of-their-data-centers-cooper-20251022
https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-investigates-big-techs-use-of-non-disclosure-agreements-to-conceal-impact-of-energy-guzzling-data-centers
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/developer-effectively-withdraws-application-for-data-center-in-fayetteville-georgia
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/data-centers-water-secrets-companies-using-ndas-hide-water-usage-georgia/ESYQS4GRDVAM7A6EJUQKGXTPWY
https://www.agriculture.ks.gov/divisions-programs/division-of-water-resources/laws-statutes-regulations
ETA- more references and clarify more language.