BATAM, Indonesia – Cooking and bathing became difficult when taps ran dry in Batam, an Indonesian island where residents are protesting as data centres spring up to power the global artificial intelligence boom.
The area had suffered a “long drought” caused by low rainfall, the local water utility operator told AFP, as a strong El Nino cycle exacerbates dry weather.
But, as in other countries, anger has been directed at the data centres, 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.
But recent severe 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 centres and other amenities, designated as a special economic zone.
People in the district believe the water shortages are related to the construction of data centres, 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 spokesman for water utility operator Air Batam Hilir.
The tech park receives water from a different source, Duriangkang Reservoir, an industry source told AFP.
‘Smelly, yellowish’
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 centres at Nongsa Digital Park include the Singapore-headquartered BW Digital, DayOne, and Princeton Digital Group.
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 centre facilities must deploy a combination of advanced engineering, efficient architectural designs and renewable energy sourcing”, it said.
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