The Top 25 Water Customers in San Angelo Won't Include the Data Center

The city itself is a major water user through operations at the water treatment plant (producing drinkable water) and the wastewater treatment facility on the northeast side of town. These processes consume significant volumes for treatment, maintenance, and system flushing.

The City of San Angelo Parks Department, which maintains city parks, the Texas Bank Sports Complex, RiverStage, and the Santa Fe Golf Course, and etc. uses roughly 8.073 million gallons per year—more than San Angelo ISD, which consumes about 6.585 million gallons annually.

Shannon Health (hospitals and clinics) uses approximately 73 million gallons per year. Tom Green County facilities, including the jail and courts, account for about 18.4 million gallons.

On the private for-profit side, Double J Lamb (meat processing) and Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon) rank among the top commercial users at 10.7 million and 28.1 million gallons per year, respectively.

Watershed Carwash slightly edges out the school district with 6.8 million gallons annually. The business operates two locations: one at 1434 N. Bryant Blvd. and the main facility at 6004 Grand Court Rd. on the city's southwest side.

A fully developed Skybox data center (proposed on the northeast side) is estimated to use about 5.475 million gallons per year under normal operations once built out with six buildings—placing it just outside the current Top 25. Public discussions and city estimates suggest roughly 15,000 gallons per day for operations (primarily employee facilities like restrooms), plus an initial one-time charge of up to ~20,000 gallons per building (120,000 gallons total) to fill the closed-loop cooling system. That fluid is refreshed only every 3–5 years. City officials and analyses have described the project’s ongoing water use as a “rounding error” relative to the city’s annual ~4.1–4.5 billion gallons of metered water.

San Angelo currently is in a strong position regarding its water supply. The primary source is surface water piped from Lake O.H. Ivie, with groundwater from the Hickory Aquifer (under McCulloch County) as the secondary source. The system currently draws about one-quarter to one-third from the Hickory Aquifer and the balance from Ivie.

Planners target a 36-month supply of water, meaning enough stored surface water to meet average daily demand of roughly 12–13 million gallons per day (citywide average ~12.5 MGD) for 36 months using only Ivie water, assuming no rainfall and accounting for evaporation. Following last year’s July 4 flooding, supply briefly reached around 40 months. The first drought conservation stage triggers if supply falls below 24 months.

Residential use dominates overall consumption. In 2024, it totaled about 2.517 billion gallons, or 55.93% of annual city water use. City estimates indicate that more than 40% of residential water goes toward outdoor irrigation, such as watering lawns.

San Angelo’s water portfolio that is anchored by Lake Ivie and supported by the Hickory Aquifer will likely expand. For example, the West Texas Water Partnership will eventually source water from the Fort Stockton area. The next big water project will likely be the Concho River water reclamation project, where wastewater will be cleansed using the Concho River and scooped out before it enters Lake Ivie. The City is awaiting Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permitting before proceeding.