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Session of 2026
SENATE BILL No. 400
By Committee on Utilities
1-27
AN ACT concerning data centers; relating to water consumption; requiring
data centers to use closed-loop cooling systems to mitigate water
consumption.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) To conserve and protect Kansas from the on-site water
consumption footprint that is associated with the operation of large data
centers, a large load data center shall not utilize an open loop cooling or
heat removal system that directly exposes or discharges water vapors
created by such cooling or heat removal processes to the ambient
atmosphere. A large load data center may use a closed-loop cooling or heat
removal system that is designed to provide a sealed cooling or heat
removal system in which no contact is made between any fluid that is
being cooled or heated and the ambient atmosphere.
(b) The attorney general, or a city, county or district attorney may
apply to the district court for a temporary or permanent injunction, or any
other appropriate legal or equitable remedy, to prohibit any person or
entity from violating the provisions of this section. Such court shall have
jurisdiction upon hearing and for cause shown to grant such injunction and
may make and render such judgments, orders and decrees as may be
proper to enforce the provisions of this section.
(c) As used in this section:
(1) "Data center" means any facility, including any buildings,
equipment, structures or other stationary items of a facility that are:
(A) Located on a single premises or on any contiguous and adjacent
premises;
(B) used by any person or entity to house computer and network
systems and infrastructure, including, but not limited to, associated
components such as servers, network equipment and appliances,
communications and data storage systems, systems for monitoring and
managing system and infrastructure performance, data communications
connections, environmental controls, cooling or heat removal systems, fire
protection systems and security systems and services; and
(C) operated with the primary purpose of providing for the storage,
management, processing and transferring of digital data.
(2) "Large load data center" means any data center that has or is
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SB 400 2
reasonably expected to have a monthly maximum electrical demand of 20
megawatts or more.
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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