Batam (Indonesia) (AFP) - Cooking and bathing have become an arduous task for residents of the Indonesian island of Batam, who are facing climate drought, accompanied by a scarcity of water, large quantities of which are allocated to expanding data centers to meet the growing global demand for artificial intelligence.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 16:03

The local company operating the water network reported to Agence France-Presse that the region is suffering from a “prolonged drought” due to the scarcity of rain, in light of the El Niño phenomenon, which has exacerbated the dry climate conditions.

But, as is the case in other countries, residents are directing their anger at data centers, which are huge facilities that house servers that run applications and artificial intelligence tools, and often use water to cool them, and require huge amounts of this for this.

Discontent is growing in Indonesia and Malaysia, especially in areas bordering Singapore, which are prime locations for new technology facilities.

Craftsman Juniardi Adinda, 54, told AFP that the residents of Batam welcomed the projects at first, but the severe water outages that some areas of the island recently witnessed forced him sometimes to "give up bathing."

He added, "We cannot eat rice without water. We cannot cook vegetables without water," noting that residents believe that water scarcity is "related to the construction of data centers."

Dozens of people held protests in front of the Nongsa Digital Park, which is classified as a special economic zone, and where new data centers and other facilities were built.

Air Batam Hilir water company spokesman Genda Alamsiah explained that the drought caused a severe drop in the level of the Nongsa reservoir, while an electrical fault caused additional disruptions in the supply networks.

A source in the sector told AFP that the water consumed by the technology complex comes from a different source, which is the Doryangkang reservoir.

Unclean water

In late September, the authorities obliged companies developing data centers to establish plants to desalinate seawater and use it for cooling, to avoid depleting local water resources.

Among the companies that operate data centers in the complex or intend to establish them are BW Digital, Day One, and Princeton Digital Group, which are companies based in Singapore.

Hong Kong-based Gao Capital Partners said it was "aware of the suffering and dissatisfaction" among residents in Nongsa and neighboring areas in Batam due to water shortages.

She stressed that ensuring the sustainability of its operations requires that its facilities rely on a combination of engineering solutions and renewable energy sources, and that it adopts a system that allows the reuse of resources, thus reducing the need for fresh water.

In the nearby coastal village of Mata Ikan, residents were forced to use seawater to clean themselves after relieving themselves, according to demonstrator Rahmat (52 years old).

Solastri (38 years old) said while washing dishes using a plastic bottle in light of the lack of water in her home, that the crisis “has been continuing since last year, but it has worsened during the last six months.”

The government distributes water to residents via tanker trucks, but Solastri said that this water is “smelly” and “yellow in color.”

AFP did not receive responses to requests for comment sent to local authorities and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which supervises the organization of the Nongsa Digital Park.

Technological breakthrough

Data center capacity in Southeast Asia is expected to triple by 2030 from 2025 levels, driven by a tenfold increase in the use of artificial intelligence, according to a KPMG report.

This expansion may lead to increased pressure on water resources, as well as on electricity grids that are still highly dependent on fossil fuels that contribute to climate warming.

The data center construction boom began in Indonesia and Malaysia after limited resources prompted Singapore, which has an advanced digital infrastructure, to stop constructing new facilities between 2019 and 2022.

Since then, the expansion of this sector has accelerated, strengthening the economies of both countries.

The Malaysian state of Johor has become “one of the largest emerging clusters of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the world,” according to researcher James Chai of the ISIS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Just five years ago, the capacity of data centers in Johor was 10 megawatts, but it has risen to 2.1 gigawatts now, according to Chai.

By 2035, data centers are expected to account for a third of Malaysia's total energy consumption, the Deputy Prime Minister told Parliament in July.

The government announced at the time that it would not approve data center projects until it ensured the availability of sufficient supplies of energy and water.

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© 2026 AFP

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