09 Oct Emails Show Data Center Developer Asked Whether Harlingen Water Deal Could Stay Private

Harlingen Waterworks agreed last year to supply a proposed data center with up to about 4.7 million gallons of treated sewer water a day. Emails reported by the Valley Morning Star show a company executive asked whether the deal could be kept “out of the public arena” before the utility’s board took it up behind closed doors.

The agreement is tied to Eneus Energy’s proposed 1,780-acre data center campus, just outside city limits near Valley International Airport. Rio Grande Valley Property Group would pay about $1.2 million a year for the water.

According to the Star’s reporting, on Sept. 16, 2025, John Metz, Eneus Energy’s senior vice president of engineering and project development, emailed former Assistant General Manager David Sanchez and copied then-interim General Manager Roy Rodriguez. He said his board wanted to know if the agreement could be kept from the public, and that the company might hire a PR firm if it came out. Rodriguez replied that the meeting had been moved to Monday, Sept. 22, and would be closed. He said Waterworks could withhold the agreement while negotiations continued, but would have to release it on request once it was approved. Sanchez later explained that the Texas Open Meetings Act lets public bodies discuss legal matters in closed session.

The board approved the agreement unanimously that Monday. In December, Metz asked about blending drinking water into the reclaimed supply to lower its chloride level, and Sanchez said the board would need to weigh in.

Under the contract, the deal would run 20 years from the day the data center begins commercial operations, with two automatic 15-year extensions, for as long as 50 years. The company would pay 75 cents per 1,000 gallons of treated sewer water, or $1.2 million a year if it averages more than 4.7 million gallons a day. The water must come from reclaimed supplies first, but if its quality falls short or Waterworks can’t deliver it, the utility must supply drinking water instead. That obligation could be limited by drought and customer demand, and the company can adjust the amount it takes.

For Harlingen residents, the concern is that backup clause. Rodriguez has said the odds of selling drinking water are almost zero because Waterworks always has wastewater, but residents have spent months pressing city commissioners and warning the deal could strain the drinking water supply. City Attorney Mark Sossi told commissioners the city can’t cancel the contract, which he called a commercial agreement, and commissioners voted not to try. The site is outside city limits, and commissioners have extended a data center moratorium while an engineering firm studies the effects on residents, water and energy.