Meta Mesa data center, Mesa, Arizona

Meta's data center campus in Mesa, in Maricopa County, Arizona, covers 396 acres at the southeast corner of Elliot and Ellsworth roads, bought in the summer of 2021 under the name Redale LLC for $123.2 million. The city approved it under that name: on May 17, 2021 the council passed the development, with a city source confirming the company was Facebook, and vice mayor Jenn Duff was the only vote against. "This has been the driest 12 months in 126 years," Duff said. "We are on red alert, and I think data centers are an irresponsible use of our water."

The water agreement estimates the campus at full build out of five buildings might use 1,400 acre feet of water a year, sets maximum flow rates of up to 4 million gallons a day, and requires Meta to buy water credits and sign them over to the city before it connects. In May 2022 Meta decided to build out its whole option, adding three more data halls to the two already under construction for a total of 2.5 million square feet, the same week the Bureau of Reclamation announced emergency measures to protect Lake Powell. "We know water's a concern and it's something we take very seriously," Meta's David Williams said then, and Mayor John Giles told the crowd that "Mesa's an incredible place to set up a shop." Williams said the whole project would be finished in 2026. Meta says the campus represents more than $1 billion of investment and will support more than 200 operational jobs once completed.

Mesa has since written rules for the ones that come after it. In July 2025 the council adopted zoning rules written specifically for data centers, after fifteen had been constructed, approved or proposed in the city in six years under rules that treated them as indoor warehousing and storage. On August 31, 2026 Attorney General Kris Mayes asked lawmakers and Governor Katie Hobbs to pass a law pausing approval of new data centers, citing rising power bills and a federal cut of nearly 30 percent to Arizona's Colorado River allocation.

Any statewide pause would have to be passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Hobbs. Hobbs's office said she wants to permanently end the data center tax credit and make data centers pay their fair share for water, while the Senate Republican majority dismissed the call, saying "Policymaking is the Legislature's job".