Data centers threaten water resources if not controlled

Malaysia's burgeoning data center industry faces a critical challenge: its substantial water consumption for cooling systems. While the nation aims for a water usage efficiency (WUE) target of 2.2 cubic meters per megawatt-hour, it currently falls short of the global benchmark of 1.8.

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The gap between the country's WUE target and the global average needs to be addressed immediately.

Experts highlight the immense water demand, estimating that a single 100-megawatt hyperscale data center could use approximately two million liters of water daily. Extrapolated to the projected 4,000-megawatt capacity by 2030, this could escalate to 80 million liters per day, matching the needs of 100,000 households.

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In the future, data center cooling technology will become increasingly better. Therefore, the government needs to ensure that data center operators do not continue to rely on old technology.

To address this, the Malaysian government has issued guidelines emphasizing water-efficient designs. However, industry stakeholders urge for more proactive measures. S. Piarapakaran, President of the Malaysian Water and Energy Research Association (AWER), stresses the need for policies that adapt to evolving cooling technologies. He advocates for mandates requiring data center operators to adopt more efficient systems as they become available, ensuring the industry's growth does not jeopardize national water security.

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There needs to be an additional condition for operators to switch to more efficient cooling technology when it becomes available.