CYBERJAYA (Jan 21): Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission (SPAN) on Tuesday raised concerns over the extensive, unsustainable use of potable water by data centres in the country.

The unchecked use of treated water for cooling and other operational needs by data centres threatens long-term water security, SPAN chairman Charles Santiago warned, as he urged immediate action to reform the sector’s water consumption practices within the next three to five years.

"The notion of a water crisis is that it could happen anytime,” he told a press conference here on Tuesday. “It could happen next year, the following year, and the year after.”

The alarm comes at a time when data centre projects are mushrooming in Malaysia from an influx of foreign direct investments on the back of rising demand for advanced computing and artificial intelligence. To date, close to five gigawatts of data centre capacity have been announced.

Data centres require massive amounts of water to cool their equipment and SPAN has been calling for greater spending on the country’s ageing water infrastructure to repair leaking pipes and upgrade treatment plants.

“That's why we are saying that we are starting off [data centre operations] in a really unsustainable way, by using potable drinking water,” Santiago said. “And that is why we need to do the transition very soon.”

SPAN is asking the federal government to establish comprehensive policies that mandate efficient water usage within the data centre sector. The policies, Charles said, should prioritise alternative water sources, minimise environmental impact and promote sustainable development.

At the state level, there is a need for regulations to ensure raw water sufficiency before approving new data centre developments, especially in areas where water demand is already high, he said.

"If water operators do not have sufficient water to supply to the data centres, they should not give the permit,” Santiago said. “They should say, 'we have no water' [and] they should say it clearly.”

SPAN highlighted Selangor state government’s zero-discharge policy as a model that other states could adopt to promote water recycling for industrial uses.

Further, SPAN proposed a series of measures to transition the data centre industry towards sustainable water use, including utilising alternative sources such as treated effluent from sewage plants for cooling purposes to reduce a reliance on treated water.

One of the decisions made during the commission meeting in December is to develop a process between SPAN and Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) to map out waste treatment plants that can be connected with the new data centers, Santiago said.

“That is happening right now as we speak, and maybe in the next month or so, we will have a better sense of how recycled water can become a good substitute for potable drinking water [for data centre consumption]," he said.

Data centres are also encouraged to adopt advanced cooling technologies designed to minimise water consumption and maximise efficiency, including incorporating rainwater harvesting systems to meet non-potable water needs and implementing water recirculation systems, such as cycles of concentration. These practices, already in use in countries like Singapore, could substantially lower water demand.

SPAN is currently developing regulatory mechanisms to ensure compliance with these initiatives and plans to release detailed guidelines upon finalisation, Santiago noted.

Earlier this month, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was reported as saying that global technology companies are expected to pay a premium for access to water and energy supplies for their data centre operations in Malaysia.

Many were willing to do so to operate in the country, he was quoted as saying in a Financial Times interview.