Email Your Officials
Letters from constituents move officials. We've written templates you can personalize and send in under 5 minutes.
These templates are written assuming that the officials receiving them are acting in good faith and may not be fully aware of the water implications of their decisions. Lead with facts. Invite dialogue. Assume goodwill.
The most effective letters are personalized — a sentence about your family's connection to the San Marcos River or how Stage 3 restrictions have affected your household is more powerful than any template.
Who this is: A San Marcos City Council member representing your district. They vote on zoning, conditional use permits, and city water policy.
Why you're writing to them: Data center permits in San Marcos go through the city council. This is the most direct decision-maker for proposals within city limits.
Appropriate tone: Respectful and informational. Assume they may not have reviewed the full water impact data. Invite dialogue.
Personalize your letter (required to copy)
Legislative staff discount identical template letters. A personal detail meaningfully increases the impact of your message.
Minimum 20 characters. One or two sentences is enough.
0/20 minimum characters
Subject line
Water Resources and Data Center Development in [DISTRICT NAME]Letter body
Dear [COUNCIL MEMBER NAME],
My name is {{NAME}} and I am a resident of {{NEIGHBORHOOD}}. I am writing to you about the proposed data center projects currently under review in Hays and Caldwell counties and their potential impact on our water supply.
San Marcos has been under Stage 3 drought restrictions since January 2025, which means families like mine are limited to watering our lawns once a week. At the same time, the city's own water supply planning documents indicate that San Marcos is on track to run out of water by 2047 under current growth trajectories. I recognize that these projections existed before the current data center proposals — but each new large water user changes that math.
{{PERSONAL_DETAIL}}
According to permit applications being tracked by the Central Texas Data Center Tracker, the proposed facilities in Hays and Caldwell counties range from 360 to 1,200 megawatts and can consume between three and sixteen million gallons of water per day through evaporative cooling towers. That is equivalent to the daily water use of roughly ten thousand to fifty thousand San Marcos households.
I believe our city can and should benefit from technology investment. I am not asking you to oppose economic development categorically. I am asking you to insist on a clear-eyed accounting of the water tradeoffs before any approval moves forward. Specifically:
1. Has any data center project in Hays or Caldwell County been required to submit an independent water impact assessment that accounts for drought-stage conditions?
2. What conditions, if any, are being considered to ensure that new large commercial water users do not exacerbate Stage 3 restrictions for existing residents and businesses?
3. Has the city engaged with the Edwards Aquifer Authority about cumulative demand from proposed industrial developments?
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this in more detail. I have followed these issues closely and can point you to relevant studies, permit documents, and examples of how other water-stressed communities have approached this challenge.
Thank you for your service and for your consideration.
Sincerely,
{{NAME}}
{{NEIGHBORHOOD}}
[DATE]Fill in all three personalization fields above to enable copying.