Data centres on the Indonesian island of Batam are consuming a significant portion of the local water supply, leading to a severe shortage for residents.

The island where locals say #datacentres are taking their water Muhammad Islahuddin, #Batam, and Kelly Ng, #Singapore " 'Water! Water!' the crowd shouted as it stormed a compound with data centres, armed with empty plastic bottles and jerry cans. "There were about 300 of them, all residents on the Indonesian island of #Batam, and they were furious that the taps at home had run dry, while the data centres in the new #NongsaDigitalPark seemed to have enough water to protect their machines from overheating. " 'Not a single drop has come through our taps for the last three months... Our water supply had been reliable until the data centres came,' Dewi Susanti, one of the protesters, told the BBC. "People in her village, #BakauSerip , were now depending on tanker trucks that dispensed 'dirty, cloudy and smelly' water, she said. "Batam's water utility told the BBC it was working to improve supply, but did not comment on whether the disruption was linked to demand from the data centres." Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj6j7wlxd5eo Archived version: https://archive.ph/cYond #Malaysia #Indonesia #Johor #NoDatacenters #NoDatacentres #WaterIsLife #WaterShortage #DayOne #NoAIDatacenters #SinarPrimera #GawCapital #Nvidia #FirmusTechnologies

"Not a single drop has come through our taps for the last three months... Our water supply had been reliable until the data centres came," Dewi Susanti, one of the protesters, told the BBC. "Water! Water!" the crowd shouted as it stormed a compound with data centres, armed with empty plastic bottles and jerry cans. The island where locals say data centres are taking their water, Muhammad Islahuddin, Kelly Ng, BBC, 2026 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj6j7wlxd5eo