In brief
On Batam island, about 300 locals marched against data‑centre operations in the Nongsa Digital Park, accusing them of depleting the island’s limited freshwater supply. The protest followed months of water shortages worsened by a severe El Niño event, leaving residents to rely on tanker‑delivered water. Authorities blame a prolonged dry spell, while data‑centre operators say they face high water demands for cooling. The clash highlights growing tensions between tech infrastructure expansion and local communities’ basic needs.
For three months, water taps in the Indonesian island’s villages have gone dry. In an angry show of force, roughly 300 residents packed into the compound of the Nongsa Digital Park, where several new data centres are under construction. They carried plastic bottles and jerry cans, demanding that the large facilities stop stealing the freshwater that feeds their homes.
Local protest leader Dewi Susanti warned, “No drops have come through our taps for the last three months… The water that used to be reliable is now managed by data centres.” She added that the community’s emergency supply comes from tanker trucks dispensing “dirty, cloudy and smelly” water.
The island’s water utility says it is working to improve supplies but hasn’t confirmed a link to the data‑centre water demand. BP Batam, the agency police the trade and industry, blamed a dry spell and denied that irrigation water is being diverted for cooling.
Batam’s push to become a digital hub has seen 10 data‑centres approved, six of them in Nongsa. Singapore, now easing its 2022 air‑space restrictions, is a major investor, and other countries including the US and China are also eyeing the island’s low operating costs and proximity to key subsea cables.
Experts point out that data‑centres consume large amounts of water for cooling. In the U.S., a typical facility can use up to 300,000 gallons per day, roughly equal to 1,000 households. By 2030, the expected power demand in Batam could cross 1,100 MW, enough to feed almost a million homes.
This water‑use reality has sparked protests in Batam and neighboring Johor, Malaysia, where council members have begun setting limits on data‑centre water and power consumption. Residents demand a fair share of the island’s limited resources and urge that investments do not come at the cost of basic utilities.
While authorities consider measures such as cloud seeding to mitigate extreme drought, locals argue that the future of the island should be balanced against the needs of its people.
Source: BBC News
