Orange County Moves Toward a One-Year Pause on AI Data Centers Over Water and Power Concerns

Orange County commissioners signaled support on September 15 for a temporary moratorium on the construction of large data centers used to power artificial intelligence systems, joining a growing list of Florida local governments that have paused or blocked the facilities over water and electricity concerns.

The proposal would apply to prospective data center applications in the county and last at least one year, during which the county would commission research into natural resources, community character, the economic landscape, zoning implications and energy capacity.

Commissioner Kelly Semrad, an environmental advocate, requested the discussion in a memo circulated to colleagues in June. The September meeting produced board support for moving forward, setting up the formal steps required to enact a moratorium.

The water problem

The central concern in Orange County is groundwater. Orange County Utilities relies on groundwater as its primary drinking water supply, drawing from the Floridan Aquifer, and regional projections show demand outrunning sustainable supply within two decades.

The St. Johns River Water Management District has projected a groundwater shortfall of 96 million gallons per day across Orange and four neighboring counties by 2045, with total regional demand growing 41 percent to 905.5 million gallons per day over that period.

Large data centers consume water primarily for cooling. Facilities of the scale being proposed can use up to 5 million gallons per day, a figure that becomes significant when measured against a regional supply already projected to fall short.

Cooling technology varies, and some designs use substantially less water in exchange for higher electricity consumption. Which approach a given facility uses affects its water footprint considerably, which is part of what county research would examine.

The power problem

Electricity is the other constraint. A single modern AI data center can draw as much power as 100,000 homes, a load that requires either substantial new generation capacity or a reallocation of existing capacity.

The question that has most concerned local officials across Florida is who pays for the infrastructure needed to serve that load. Transmission upgrades, substation construction and generation additions all carry costs, and utility rate structures determine whether those costs fall on the facility or are spread across all ratepayers.

Florida addressed this partially at the state level. Senate Bill 484, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2026 and effective July 1, requires the Florida Public Service Commission to develop tariffs and rate structures ensuring that data center owners cover the extra energy costs their facilities create rather than passing them to other consumers.

Whether those tariffs prove sufficient in practice is untested, and local governments have generally not treated the state law as fully resolving the issue.

What state law already does

SB 484 established Florida's first statutory framework for large data centers. It defines a large-scale data center as a facility with a monthly peak load of at least 50 megawatts, a threshold that captures the AI facilities driving the current debate while excluding smaller server operations.

The law preserves local government authority to reject data center development, which is the provision that matters most to the Orange County discussion. It confirms that counties and municipalities retain zoning control over these facilities rather than being preempted by the state.

It also creates requirements around water use permits for large data centers, adding a regulatory layer at the water management district level on top of local zoning review.

In combination, the law gives local governments explicit authority to do what Orange County is now considering, which removes one of the legal uncertainties that might otherwise have complicated a moratorium.

Florida's wider moratorium wave

Orange County is not moving alone. By July 2026, between 14 and 20 Florida counties and municipalities had enacted temporary moratoriums or permanent bans on large-scale data centers, including Volusia County, Sarasota County, the city of Lakeland and Washington County.

One Florida county approved a moratorium running through September 30, 2027, explicitly to study water, electricity and infrastructure impacts given the region's reliance on the Floridan Aquifer.

The pattern reflects a shift in how local governments across the country have responded to data center siting proposals. Facilities that were once welcomed as clean industrial development with high capital investment are now frequently contested over utility impacts.

Florida's particular vulnerability is water. In states where data centers draw from surface water supplies with substantial margin, the objection carries less force. In a state whose drinking water comes largely from an aquifer with documented supply constraints, it carries a great deal.

The economic argument on the other side

Data center developers and their supporters make a straightforward case. The facilities represent large capital investments, generate substantial property tax revenue relative to the land they occupy, and require relatively little in the way of public services compared with residential development.

They also employ far fewer people than their capital cost suggests. A facility representing a billion dollars in investment may employ a few dozen permanent staff, which means the jobs argument is weaker than it is for manufacturing or office development.

The construction phase does generate significant temporary employment, and the tax base contribution is real and durable once a facility is operating.

Opponents of moratoriums argue that a pause signals to the industry that a jurisdiction is closed for business, and that investment simply relocates to counties that welcome it while the tax revenue goes elsewhere.

How the politics have developed

Polling has been lopsided. A University of North Florida survey found 68 percent of Florida voters opposed to having a data center in their area, a level of opposition that gives local officials substantial political cover for restrictive action.

The issue has moved into statewide politics as well. The two major party nominees for governor have staked out competing positions, with Democrat David Jolly proposing a statewide one-year moratorium and Republican Byron Donalds favoring local decision-making combined with restrictions on access to public power and water.

That disagreement means the state framework could shift after the November election regardless of which candidate wins, though the specific direction would differ substantially.

For Orange County, acting now means establishing local policy before any state-level change arrives.

What a moratorium actually stops

A moratorium of the type under discussion pauses the acceptance or processing of new applications. It generally does not affect facilities already permitted or under construction, and it does not shut down operating data centers.

The legal requirements are specific. Moratoriums must be time-limited, must serve a stated public purpose, and must be tied to a planning process, which is why the Orange County proposal pairs the pause with a research program.

Jurisdictions that enact moratoriums without a clear planning rationale expose themselves to legal challenge from property owners and developers who argue their development rights have been taken.

The study period is therefore not incidental. It is the legal foundation for the pause.

What it means for Central Florida

Central Florida's growth has already strained water and power infrastructure. The Interstate 4 corridor has been among the fastest-growing regions in the country, and utility planning has been working to keep pace with residential and commercial demand.

Adding facilities that individually consume as much water as a small city and as much power as a large neighborhood changes those projections materially. That is the core of the local government concern.

Orange County also hosts a tourism economy that depends heavily on water infrastructure, with theme parks, hotels and restaurants representing substantial demand of their own.

How the county balances industrial recruitment against resource constraints will shape its development pattern for years.

Why the AI buildout landed in Florida

The current wave of data center construction is driven by demand for computing capacity to train and run large artificial intelligence models. That demand has grown faster than existing infrastructure can accommodate, producing a national siting rush.

Florida has attracted attention for several reasons: available land, a business tax structure that appeals to capital-intensive development, proximity to undersea cable landings in South Florida that provide international connectivity, and a state government that has generally been receptive to industrial investment.

The state's disadvantages are equally clear. Cooling requirements rise with ambient temperature, which makes Florida a more expensive place to operate a data center than cooler regions. Hurricane exposure adds resilience costs. And water supply is constrained.

Those tradeoffs mean Florida is neither the most attractive nor the least attractive market for the industry, which puts a premium on how welcoming individual jurisdictions choose to be.

What the county study would examine

The research program attached to the proposed moratorium covers five areas: natural resources, community character, the economic landscape, zoning implications and energy capacity.

Natural resources analysis would focus on aquifer drawdown, wastewater discharge and the cumulative effect of multiple facilities rather than any single project. Community character addresses the land use question of where windowless industrial buildings belong relative to residential areas.

The economic component would weigh tax base contribution against infrastructure costs and the relatively small permanent employment these facilities generate. Zoning work would determine which districts should permit the use and under what conditions.

Energy capacity analysis would coordinate with utility planning to establish how much additional load the county's grid can accommodate and what upgrades would be required.

What's next

The board's expression of support is a step rather than a final action. Enacting a moratorium requires formal ordinance procedures including public hearings, and the specific scope and duration will be settled through that process.

The research the county has proposed would be conducted during the pause and would inform whatever permanent zoning framework follows. That framework, rather than the moratorium itself, is the outcome that will determine long-term policy.

Developers with projects in early planning stages will be watching the ordinance language closely, particularly any provisions addressing applications already in the pipeline.