The Aqua Water Supply Corporation board has approved large-volume water service for Pacifico Energy Development LLC's sprawling 2,842-acre data center and power project in Cedar Creek, clearing a key hurdle for one of Bastrop County's most contested infrastructure fights. The board took action on September 1, and the approval comes with a hard deadline: Pacifico has until February 28, 2027 to lock in a formal service agreement or risk losing the deal entirely.
As reported by Community Impact, the approved resolution requires Pacifico to pay Aqua WSC a $3,500 legal deposit by November 30, 2026, before the developer can move forward with a non-standard service agreement. That agreement is meant to formalize the terms and responsibilities for actually delivering water to the site. Aqua WSC communications director Hollye Fain told the outlet that if Pacifico misses the February deadline, the company could lose both the approved resolution and its feasibility study, effectively sending the process back to square one.
Fain also said in an email that she was not aware of the board requesting further review and approval before the agreement is finalized, though the board will ultimately decide whether the negotiated agreement returns to a future meeting for additional scrutiny. That uncertainty leaves open exactly how much additional public vetting the deal will get before water actually starts flowing to the site.
Water Service and Nearby Data Center Projects
Pacifico's proposed campus is part of a broader data center buildout in Cedar Creek. EdgeConneX's separate $1.4 billion campus on FM 535 is a project Hoodline covered in its earlier report on the $440 million data center colossus reshaping Cedar Creek.
An On-Site Power Plant
KVUE reported that Pacifico dropped its requests for tax breaks.
The project also includes a 710-megawatt natural gas power plant built on-site that could reduce reliance on the broader grid at certain times, per Community Impact's reporting on the broader Cedar Creek buildout. KXAN reported discussions involving AI company Anthropic PBC, Pacifico and BlackChamber Partners.
Opposition Persists Despite Concessions
None of those moves have quieted opposition entirely. Adjacent landowners filed formal motions with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in July seeking revocation of construction stormwater permits issued to Pacifico and BlackChamber, per the same Community Impact report. Bastrop County Commissioners, meanwhile, tabled a resolution in August that would have asked the Texas Legislature for expanded regulatory authority over large industrial projects like data centers, reflecting how narrow county land-use power remains for unincorporated areas.
The frustration has reached the state level, too. At a July town hall in Bastrop attended by more than 100 residents, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called for a one-year statewide moratorium on new data center developments to give regulators time to catch up, the outlet reported, noting more than 5,500 acres across the Cedar Creek area are now tied to planned or prospective data center sites.
For now, Pacifico's path forward hinges on paperwork and a calendar. Whether the company meets the November deposit deadline and the February service agreement deadline, and how the TCEQ resolves the pending stormwater permit challenges, remain open questions as the project moves toward its next milestones.
