Evidence Intelligence

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Policy intelligence brief

VA-HB589 — Data centers; certain data from water users, water use consumption.

Certain data from water users; water use consumption of data centers. Requires any water user that provides water to a data center, as defined in the bill, and is required to register certain water withdrawal and use data with the State Water Control Board to report to the Board, on a monthly basis or as frequent a basis as practicable, the total volume of water, including the portion that is reclaimed water, provided to such data center during the reporting period.

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Legal stateIntroduced / in committeeA bill is not law unless the source record shows enactment.
JurisdictionVirginiaState-source record
Latest recorded action2026-02-18Left in Committee Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources
Primary sourceStateOriginal public record linked

What the evidence says

Key findings

01
How it operates

Disclosure & reporting · Water standard

Forces a data center’s energy, water, and impact data into public view, so regulators, ratepayers, and communities can see figures operators would otherwise keep private. Measures or limits how much water a data center draws for cooling, and how local scarcity is weighed in approvals.

02
Issues named in the record

Water

These themes are supported by explicit words in the title or stored summary, not graph proximity.

Comparable precedents

Related approaches worth comparing

Selected by shared tracked mechanisms or themes, with cross jurisdiction examples prioritized. Similarity is not legal equivalence.

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Relationship map

VA-HB589 evidence graph

Data centers; certain data from water users, water use consumption.

9 nodes · 8 evidenced edges
Policy record 1Policy theme 2Policy mechanism 2Documented actor 1Policy family 1Jurisdiction 1Original source 1
explicitly concerns: Theme named in the title or stored summaryclassified under: Fixed-vocabulary topic classificationsignals mechanism: Mechanism signal derived from the tracked record textsignals mechanism: Mechanism signal derived from the tracked record textapplies in: Jurisdiction recorded for this source typedocumented by: Original source URL stored with the policy recordsponsored: Named sponsor in the tracked public recordmember of family: exact title companionPolicy recordVA-HB589Data centers; certain data …VA-HB589: Data centers; certain data from water users, water use consumption.Policy themeWaterExplicit record textWater: Explicit record textPolicy themeCertification & Standa…AI-assisted policy themeCertification & Standards: AI-assisted policy themePolicy mechanismDisclosure & reportingText-derived policy signalDisclosure & reporting: Text-derived policy signalPolicy mechanismWater standardText-derived policy signalWater standard: Text-derived policy signalJurisdictionVirginiaState policy jurisdictionVirginia: State policy jurisdictionOriginal sourceStateOriginal public sourceState: Original public sourceDocumented actorShelly SimondspersonShelly Simonds: personPolicy familyData centers; certain …VAData centers; certain data from water users, water use consumption.: VA

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Inspectable edges

Relationship receipts

Each edge states what was observed and why it appears. An edge never implies private influence, support, opposition, or causation.