Aussie Data Centers Could Swallow 40 Million Litres Of Water Per Day, That's About 80,000 Households

Australia’s utility industry warns the country’s current water supply is not enough to accommodate the explosive growth of data centres and artificial intelligence (AI).

The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), the nation’s peak water body, says data centre developers are seeking about 5 to 40 million litres of water per day to cool down their facilities.

That’s the equivalent of 70,000 to 80,000 households or 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Data centres, which store information for governments to businesses, cycle water through their facilities to cool down servers and prevent overheating.

However, the development of AI, which has much higher computational power, storage, as well as electricity needs, is also driving up the base requirements of data centres.

In fact, the WSAA estimates that by 2030, data centres in Sydney alone are estimated to use 10.5 billion litres a year (1.9 percent of Sydney Water’s supply).

By 2035, this is expected to balloon to 90 billion litres a year, the equivalent of 15 to 20 percent of supply.

Sydney is arguably the tech capital of Australia with 90 data centres currently in the state of New South Wales (NSW), followed by 40 in Victoria. Future data centre developments could be much larger and energy-intensive, the report says.