We normally don’t think of Amarillo, a place built on farming and ranching, as the place where our future is tested. Yet here we are, deciding whether our water will go towards crops or computers.
As of June 26, 2025, Fermi America announced it will be building the world’s largest “HyperGrid” AI and energy campus. It will span 18 million square feet of data centers on a 5,800-acre site near the Pantex nuclear weapons plant. This “HyperGrid” facility will feature a massive computer system running AI programs, powered by nuclear energy, with Amarillo playing a key role in powering that future.
When hearing the word AI, most people don’t think about water’s huge supporting role in cooling down servers. Recently, the City of Amarillo approved selling up to 2.5 million gallons of water per day (MGD) to Fermi America for the next 20 years.
At first glance, selling water and hosting the HyperGrid campus seem like a win for Amarillo: economic growth, jobs, and a national seat at the technology table. But these benefits rest on our most essential asset—water. For the Panhandle, water is not just a resource; it is our foundation. We must weigh economic opportunity against the risk of sacrificing water security for technological gain.
Supporters say that this will be a small slice of our region’s water use. Council Member David Prescott said, “If we ramp up Fermi all the way to 10 million gallons a day that’s 3.6 billion per year out of the total 1.1 trillion gallons which is only 0.32%.” But raw percentages of water consumption aside, when AI centers use water for cooling, a huge portion of it is lost to evaporation.
Fermi America claims that it will use efficient hybrid air and water cooling systems, or specifically, a closed loop system. However, even with modern technology, with large AI campuses requiring enormous amounts of water, they have limited ways to replenish it. If the facility grows to its full scale, Amarillo’s water commitments may rise dramatically. Once a corporation has a foothold, it tends to expand, and public resources often bend to meet industrial demand.
Our region’s lifeblood is the slowly declining Ogallala Aquifer, with extraction rates far outpacing natural replenishment. Farms, ranches, wildlife, and families—all depend on it. The real question is simple: Do we choose short-term technological prospects over the water that sustains our way of life?
This isn’t a direct attack against technology and innovation, because Amarillo deserves thoughtful development and investment, but progress should be balanced with sustainability. If a company wants to benefit from our location, infrastructure, and workforce, it has to respect our environment and community. This means giving enforceable limits to water use, transparency, environmental studies, and strong commitments to recycling and replenishing local water.
Decisions about our water will shape the future generations of the Panhandle. Once groundwater declines past a certain point, no amount of money or technology will be able to refill it. Artificial intelligence may power the world one day, but here, water powers Amarillo.
