Data Centers and Water Crisis in India: Why Digital Infrastructure Could Drain Our Wells Dry by 2030

Abstract

India faces a pivotal moment. Its ambition to establish digital sovereignty goes against the environment protection requirement. India is demonstrating its desire to control its digital backbone as expressed by large data-centre projects announced by Reliance in Jamnagar, and by Adani, a 10-billiondollar investment in multiple states. However, these centers consume vast quantities of water, which may exacerbate the water scarcity in India that is already severe. An example 100-megawatt data centre requires approximately 2m³ of water daily to cool it, which is equivalent to approximately 6,500 households. Currently, India operates 270 data centers whereas it generates 20 or more percentage of the global data, thus, expansion will occur. This paper examines the water consumption of data centers, lessons learned by cities in the United States that have established data centers and gone through water wars and evaluates the potential risks of India because of the water shortages in the largest metropolitan areas. It has seven viable plans namely require alternative water supply, site selection, promote renewable energy, support innovative technology, mandate transparency, establish community benefits agreements, and implement the project in phases. The main idea is that creating a sustainable digital infrastructure must not restrict the growth it must provide India with an advantage as a pioneer of environmentally sustainable digital sovereignty.