The Ledger — Cluster B

Water commitments

Assurances made about the project's water use, checked against the public record.

B1 — El Paso Water will hold the site to a contractual maximum of 2.5 million gallons per day

What would confirm it

The water supply contract itself — the cap clause, its measurement basis (daily maximum vs. rolling average), and any exception or amendment provisions.

B2 — The meter physically prevents exceeding 2.5 million gallons per day

"The water meter provides a physical constraint that will not allow more than the 2.5 MGD to pass through the line."

What would confirm it

The meter and service-line specification; the engineering basis for the flow-limit claim; whether the site has or could obtain secondary connections.

B3 — "Exactly the amount of water we were planning to provide for that area anyway"

The claim: the project's water demand fits within supply that was already planned for the area before the agreement existed.

A tension on the record

The June 2026 Community Benefits Agreement item calls for the project to fund water recycling, purification, and a new pipeline connecting cooling towers to groundwater — described by its sponsor as leaving "more water for residents in the local aquifer." A project whose demand was already inside existing supply plans would not need new infrastructure to leave more water for residents. Either the demand was not fully planned for, or the provisions are precautionary — a distinction the underlying planning documents would settle.

B4 — Comparison to a golf course's water use

The comparison fails on the axis that matters: the golf course referenced draws reclaimed water; the data center will draw from the regular potable system, because available reclaimed water is already committed to existing customers.

B5 — Cooling water is "simply water… concentrated water"; discharge terms still under negotiation

The circulating cooling water is untreated; evaporation concentrates salts and minerals. The city's water reclamation plant cannot remove the resulting salt levels, and discharge requirements for the site's wastewater remain under negotiation.

Why this matters on timing

The site is on construction power and slated for operations later this year, while the terms governing what it discharges are still being settled — commitments running ahead of the terms that govern them.

SOURCES: EL PASO WATER WRITTEN STATEMENTS, AUGUST 2026 · KFOX14 TOWN-HALL COVERAGE, AUGUST 2026 · KVIA, JUNE 23, 2026. FULL CITATIONS ON THE SOURCES PAGE.