Nye County approves moratorium on data centers amid resource concerns

Nye County took a first formal step toward blocking new data centers in Pahrump Valley after the Nye County Water District Governing Board unanimously approved an emergency order and asked county commissioners to impose a moratorium before any more projects move ahead.

The board’s decision centered most sharply on water. Members said the draft ordinance would treat data center projects as a non-permissive use of water in the Pahrump Regional Planning District and Nevada Hydrographic Basin 162, which local officials have described as a critically over-appropriated aquifer. One board member said the valley could not in good faith move forward with a project that would require 1,000 acre-feet of water.

The water district’s action was non-binding, but it put pressure squarely on the Nye County Commission, the body with the legal authority to adopt land-use restrictions and write a moratorium into county code. Commissioner Debra Strickland said the commission could potentially establish a moratorium on approvals for data centers until regulations are in place. The water board said its move was prompted by public concern, and members said they had fielded dozens of calls from residents and landowners worried about the pace of development.

Power demand added to the alarm. Local utility representatives reportedly said data center developers had already submitted multiple power applications in the Pahrump area, a sign that the issue is not just about wells and groundwater, but also about grid capacity and infrastructure that could be stretched by large industrial users.

The Nye County move joins a broader Nevada backlash. In March 2026, state lawmakers were told that accommodating 12 proposed data centers could raise Nevada’s energy load by nearly 50 percent. Southern Nevada water officials have also pointed to the scale of consumption, saying 10 facilities using evaporative cooling took 352.6 million gallons of water last year. The Southern Nevada Water Authority prohibited evaporative cooling systems in new commercial developments in 2023.

Other Nevada governments are already drawing lines. Reno became the first local government in the state to pause new data center applications on May 14 in a 6-1 vote, and Boulder City recently rejected a proposal after weeks of controversy.

For Nye County, the question now is whether the commission will leave the door open, but only under tighter rules, or move to close it until officials can write standards that address water, power and land-use impacts in Pahrump Valley.