California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a package of laws establishing new reporting and planning requirements for data centers, including measures addressing water use, supply and infrastructure needs.

The seven-bill package signed Sept. 21 includes AB 2469 and AB 2619, which address data center water use disclosures and water resources, respectively. The laws require proposed data centers to provide local governments and water suppliers with information about water consumption, available supplies, water-efficiency measures and drought planning.

Under the new requirements, proposed data center projects will need to account for their potential impacts on local water supplies and identify information needed to evaluate whether existing systems can support the facilities. The state says upgrades needed to provide water service to a data center would be paid for by the project.

The legislation is part of a broader package covering water, electricity and land-use considerations associated with data center development. Other measures establish reporting requirements and address electricity rate structures, grid infrastructure costs and environmental review for data center projects.

For water utilities, the new requirements provide additional information to evaluate projected demand from data centers alongside available supplies, efficiency measures and drought conditions. The measures come as data center development increases demand for both electricity and water-intensive cooling infrastructure.

California's package includes AB 1577 on data center reporting, AB 2383 on electricity, AB 2469 on water use disclosures, AB 2619 on water resources, SB 886 on technology innovation and ratepayer protection, SB 887 on environmental review and SB 1168 on data center rate structures.