Ohio voters repealed an EdgeConneX data-center deal 81.65% to 18.35%; Waterplan sells the water-risk map
Ashville, Ohio repealed an EdgeConneX data-center framework by 81.65%, and Texas's governor-elect wants water contracts with data centers voided. Waterplan, a startup whose named customers include AWS and Meta, pitches AI site selection on November 18.
Vincent Jiangthree-minute read
On November 3, voters in Ashville, Ohio repealed Resolution 06-2026, the village's development framework for an EdgeConneX data-center campus, by 81.65% to 18.35%, or 1,468 votes to 330 1. The proposal carried a price above $100 million: two data-center buildings and an on-site natural-gas power plant on roughly 195 acres 1.
Advocates with Pickaway Strong collected 669 verified signatures to force the vote after council passed the deal under an emergency clause, and the Ohio Supreme Court ordered it onto the ballot on August 7 1. A $3.5 million EdgeConneX donation to village parks and sewers, announced weeks before election day, did not change the outcome 1.
An Ohio village repealed an EdgeConneX deal, 81.65% to 18.35%
Ashville was not alone. Five more Ohio communities approved data-center restrictions the same night, and Grove City's amendment now requires a public vote before any project covering 50 contiguous acres, 20 megawatts of peak demand, or 500,000 gallons of water a day 2. Pataskala banned new construction outright above 25 megawatts 2.
Water use has moved onto the ballot
In Texas, governor-elect Gina Hinojosa wants an immediate moratorium and a law making any water contract with a data center unenforceable where it threatens a community's supply 3. She inherits a freeze already running: Governor Greg Abbott halted new permits from the state's environmental agency in September, pending an audit of grid applications by ERCOT, the state grid operator, which expects the review to end in December 3.
Texas holds 25% of planned US data-center capacity on a Goldman Sachs−0.12% — Goldman Sachs, down 0.12 percent today estimate, and ERCOT is tracking more than 400 gigawatts of connection requests 4. In exit polls, 56% of voters called AI data centers a crucial or major factor in their congressional vote 3. This month, water use moved from annual sustainability reports onto ballots, as a threshold that can stop a project before it starts.
The startup selling the site map
Waterplan, legally Climateplan Inc. of San Francisco, sells software that measures water risk site by site 57.
Founded by José Ignacio Galindo, Nicolas Wertheimer and Matias Comercio 5, it has raised $18.5 million, including an $11 million Series A led by Base10 Partners in May 2023 6. Named customers include AWS−0.12% — AWS, down 0.12 percent today, Meta+1.11% — Meta, up 1.11 percent today, Danone, Colgate-Palmolive−2.16% — Colgate-Palmolive, down 2.16 percent today, AB InBev and Kurita, and the disclosure nonprofit CDP puts potential private-sector losses from water risk above $300 billion 68.
The pitch now is siting: the company lists a Site Screening product, publishes an EdgeConneX case study titled Building Water-Resilient Data Centers, and on November 18 hosts a webinar, AI for Data Center Site Selection 78. One named customer shows the scale now pressing against these voter gates: Amazon's quarterly capital spending reached $75.9 billion in Q3 2026, more than four times the $16.4 billion of Q2 2024 9.
Amazon's quarterly capex more than quadrupled in ten quarters
The demand voters just gated: Amazon's quarterly capex has gone from $16B to $76B
Data
| Capital expenditure | |
|---|---|
| Q2 '24 | $16.39B |
| Q3 '24 | $21.28B |
| Q4 '24 | $26.05B |
| Q1 '25 | $24.26B |
| Q2 '25 | $31.37B |
| Q3 '25 | $34.23B |
| Q4 '25 | $38.47B |
| Q1 '26 | $43.23B |
| Q2 '26 | $53.08B |
| Q3 '26 | $75.88B |
What could still break the arc
Two limits. EdgeConneX says Ashville construction is already underway with permits secured, so the referendum may not remove a single server rack 10. And Waterplan's data-center business so far rests on its own site and webinar schedule; no third party confirms a dollar of it.
Markets priced the gate anyway. Modine+5.49% — Modine, up 5.49 percent today, which makes data-center cooling, and Sterling Infrastructure, which handles site preparation, each fell about 21% on November 4 while the big cloud companies rose 10. Meta, which spent about $110 million on land in Piqua, watched that town ban large centers and recall the commissioners who backed it 10. Watch the ERCOT review due to end in December 3 and the November 18 webinar 7. If Texas writes the water-contract clause into law, a site's water data moves to the start of every siting decision in the state.
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