In brief
On Batam island in Indonesia, hundreds of residents staged a protest after data centres in the Nongsa Digital Park allegedly cut off taps at home. Experts say cooling systems at data centres consume huge amounts of water, and the island’s already scarce supplies are under threat. Local authorities cited a dry spell, while residents demand transparency and equity in resource use. The clash highlights a growing global debate about tech giants’ impact on local communities and the environment.
In a dramatic market‑square showdown, around three hundred locals poured plastic bottles and jerry cans into a cage of servers at Batam’s new Nongsa Digital Park. They shouted a simple demand: “Water! Water!”
The protesters claim their tap water has gone dry for the last three months. “One single drop has not reached our homes,” one resident told reporters. The people of Bakau Serip, near the park, now rely only on tanker‑supplied water that tastes “cloudy and smelly.”
Why do data centres need so much water?
Coolable racks of servers generate heat that can reach dangerous temperatures. Engineers pump cooling water through pipes to keep them in operation, a process that can use around 300 000 gallons daily — the equivalent of 1,000 households in the US. In Batam, exact figures are unclear, but the island’s reservoirs are already under stress from a historic “super” El Niño that has scorched crops and dried up rivers.
Local fallout
While the nation’s water authority says authorities are addressing supply gaps, the data‑centre operators say they are simply following the rules. BP Batam, the industry regulator, attributes the shortages to a long, dry spell and denies the claim that water is being diverted into servers.
Still, villagers increasingly fear that they must compete with servers for a finite resource. One resident begged for a simple fix: “Give back our water and stop the menial plans that leave people thirsty.”
What’s next for Batam?
The island has green‑lit ten data‑centre permits, six of which sit in Nongsa. Investors from Singapore, China and the US see Batam as a cheap, strategic node for subsea cable links. The government promises that future data‑centres will include their own desalination plants, but it remains to be seen whether that must balance local water needs.
With wall‑to‑wall LED lights, soft hissing of cooling pumps and a future that could bring a million more homes powered by data, residents of Batam are standing at a junction: grow the digital economy or preserve the island’s lifeblood. The outcome could set a precedent for the rest of the world.
