Can’t cook or shower: Indonesians take aim at data centers
BATAM, INDONESIA—Cooking and bathing became difficult when taps ran dry in Batam, an Indonesian island where residents are protesting as data centers spring up to power the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The area had suffered a “long drought” caused by low rainfall, the local water utility operator told Agence France-Presse (AFP), as a strong El Niño cycle exacerbates dry weather.
But, as in other countries, anger has been directed at the data centers, warehouse-like facilities that keep apps and AI tools running, with water often used to cool their humming servers.
Frustration is bubbling over in Indonesia and Malaysia—especially in regions bordering Singapore that are seen as a prime location for new tech facilities.
At first, the main reaction was “thank God industry is coming” to Batam, 54-year-old tradesman Juniardi Adinda Sembiring Gurukinayan told AFP.
Severe outages
But severe recent outages hitting the municipal water service in some Batam communities meant “sometimes I skipped my shower.”
“We cannot eat rice without water. We cannot cook vegetables without water,” he said.
At the worst point, dozens of angry residents staged spontaneous protests outside Nongsa Digital Park—a new cluster of data centers and other amenities, designated a special economic zone.
People in the district believe “that the water shortages … are related to the construction of data centers,” Juniardi said.
The drought caused the nearby Nongsa Reservoir to run very low, and supply systems were further disrupted by an electrical fault, said Ginda Alamsyah, a spokesperson for water utility operator Air Batam Hilir.
The tech park receives water from a different source, Duriangkang Reservoir, an industry source told AFP.
Authorities in late September told developers they must build plants to desalinate seawater for cooling, to avoid straining local resources.
Companies behind operational or planned data centers at Nongsa Digital Park include the Singapore-headquartered BW Digital, DayOne and Princeton Digital Group.
‘Closed-loop’ water systems
Another owner, Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners, said it was “aware of the distress and frustration expressed by local residents in Nongsa and surrounding Batam communities” over water shortages.
To ensure sustainable operations, “our data center facilities must deploy a combination of advanced engineering, efficient architectural designs and renewable energy sourcing,” it said.
That includes using so-called “closed-loop” water systems that reuse resources and so require less fresh liquid.
As residents demanded a return to normal water supply at one protest last month, AFP saw a police officer filling up buckets they had brought to Nongsa Digital Park.
In nearby coastal village Mata Ikan, people had to use seawater to wash after defecating, said demonstrator Rahmat, 52, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
“The water crisis has been going on for the past year, but it got worse in the last six months,” 38-year-old Sulastri said at her home, where supply was out, so she poured water from a plastic bottle to wash dishes.
“Many of us here run small stalls. We used to make ice cubes, but we can’t anymore.”
The government has been distributing water from tanks driven around, but Sulastri said it was “smelly” and “yellowish.”
AFP contacted the local government BP Batam, and Indonesia’s ministry for economic affairs, which regulates Nongsa Digital Park, for comment.
Neither responded.
Recent disruption to water distribution “was not caused by data centers or AI or investors entering that sector,” Amsakar Achmad, Batam mayor and head of BP Batam said in October, according to local media.
