The City of Temple calls a local activist group’s claims about an aquifer storage and recovery water well being tied to Rowan Digital Infrastructure as “misinformation” while the developer calls it “false.”
Temple Stands Together issued a press release claiming public records show the city requested and established an aquifer storage and recovery well for Rowan, a private data center developer.
The activist group alleged the water well allows Rowan to inject surface water or treated industrial wastewater into the aquifer, posing contamination threats across the Trinity Aquifer system.
“(It) jeopardizes the foundational aquifer that both my community in Texas and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma depend on,” Temple Stands Together co-founder Sarah Royer stated.
Rowan spokesperson Nathaniel Brown disputed these as “false claims.”
Brown said Rowan paid for and developed a groundwater well associated with Moriah, a previous project now used as a warehouse and for power allocation, and later dedicated the well to the city.
Brown said Rowan does not inject water, wastewater or any other substance into the aquifer and its planned Temple data center facilities will not use aquifer storage and recovery facilities for water supply or discharge.
Temple spokesperson Nohely Mackowiak also disputed the Temple Stands Together characterization.
Mackowiak said Rowan constructed the well at its own expense several years ago under an economic development agreement for a planned industrial project.
Under this agreement, ownership transferred to the city. She said because the original project no longer requires the well, Temple is evaluating how the asset could support the long-term water conservation strategy for the city.
Mackowiak said any future aquifer storage and recovery program would be owned and operated by the city and regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
She said Rowan does not own the well, aquifer or any water potentially stored through an aquifer storage and recovery program and would not have authority to inject or recover water.
Mackowiak said reclaimed water is not being used for aquifer storage and recovery. Any future aquifer storage and recovery operations would require state approval, engineering and environmental reviews and compliance with regulatory requirements intended to protect groundwater resources.
City Manager Brynn Myers called the Temple Stands Together claims “misinformation” during the Thursday Temple City Council meeting, which she publicly addressed following earlier questions from the Telegram.
The Temple Stands Together press release challenged city claims.
“Knowingly bypassing mandatory state fire codes, ignoring occupancy permit requirements, and the risk to groundwater creates severe, indefensible legal and financial liability for the City of Temple and Bell County,” Royer stated in the press release. “We are putting our elected officials on notice. They have the statutory power to stop this today, and they must act before our water is permanently ruined and our first responders are put in lethal danger — they must adhere to State laws.”
The release states residents submitted a formal inquiry to the Clearwater Underground Water Conservation District demanding an independent hydrogeological audit and an immediate halt to injection operations.
Clearwater Precinct 2 Director Dirk Aaron called the allegations in the press release “absolutely preposterous” in an email response to the Telegram.
Clearwater General Manager Whitney Ingram responded the district does not regulate aquifer storage and recovery injection projects and has not authorized any such activity. Under Texas law, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality serves as the permitting authority for aquifer storage and recovery injection wells.
Ingram said Clearwater issued only a drilling permit for a proposed public water supply well. The permit allows the well to be drilled, constructed, tested and evaluated but does not authorize groundwater production.
Ingram added Temple did not submit an operating permit application and the Clearwater board did not approve groundwater production from the well.
According to Ingram, the project originated with Rowan and later transitioned to Temple as the public water supplier.
Information submitted during the drilling permit process described the well as a limited supplemental water source intended to help meet peak demand, not as an unrestricted groundwater supply.
Ingram also said Clearwater remains responsible for enforcing permit conditions and could assess penalties if groundwater production occurs without authorization. Based on discussions with project managers, she said the well remains incomplete and does not yet have a pump assembly installed.
The Temple Stands Together press release further states residents petitioned Bell County Judge David Blackburn, R-Bell County, to declare a local state of disaster and halt operations at the Rowan site.
During the most recent Bell County Commissioners Court meeting, Blackburn addressed public confusion surrounding an aquifer storage and recovery item on the court agenda, unrelated to the Temple project. Blackburn said the aquifer storage and recovery pilot well project under consideration was located on federal property at Fort Hood and had no connection to Rowan or Temple.
These water-related allegations are among several claims Temple Stands Together raised about proposed Temple-area data center development, including claims the centers lack required fire inspections due to battery storage systems, which data center companies and city officials characterized as false.
