Batam: data centres and pressure on water supplies

Water cuts in Batam have prompted protests outside a park housing data centres. Authorities cite drought and a breakdown, while residents blame the new infrastructure: the available evidence does not demonstrate that it was solely responsible.

In Batam, Indonesia, residents facing water cuts have protested outside Nongsa Digital Park, a complex that is home to data centres among other facilities. Their anger highlights a tangible tension: these digital infrastructures need resources to operate, but the reported cuts are not enough to establish that they caused them. Drought, a power failure, supply networks and industrial use must be distinguished to understand what is happening — and what the announced responses can really change.

In Batam, a shortage experienced first-hand and causes under debate

In some parts of Batam, water interruptions have been severe enough to disrupt everyday activities and businesses. Residents interviewed by AFP spoke of being unable to shower, wash dishes or make ice for their stalls. In Mata Ikan, a nearby coastal village, residents say they had to use seawater to wash. These accounts describe the difficulties people have faced; on their own, they do not measure the share attributable to each user of the network.

The public water supplier ABH attributed the situation to a prolonged drought linked to low rainfall, worsened by a severe El Niño episode. Its spokesperson also cited a low reservoir level and a power failure that disrupted the supply system. Meanwhile, a source in the sector cited by AFP says that Nongsa Digital Park receives its water from the Duriangkang reservoir, which is separate from the one associated with the reported disruptions.

These explanations do not resolve every question. However, they distinguish a shortage experienced by residents from the possibility that data centres were directly responsible. In October, Batam mayor Amsakar Achmad told a local media outlet that the recent cuts had not been caused by data centres, artificial intelligence or investors, but by climatic factors. The available material provides no assessment quantifying the respective contributions of drought, breakdowns, domestic use and industrial demand.

Why data centres use water

A data centre houses servers that must operate continuously. Computer equipment generates heat, which must be managed to keep the equipment within its operating conditions. Depending on the site’s design, cooling can use water, electricity or systems combining several techniques. The amount of water required depends, among other things, on the cooling technology, the climate, the computing load and the water supply method.

This demand adds to that of other users in the area. Its impact therefore depends less on a general label — “data centre” — than on practical questions: does the site draw water from the same basin as residents? At what time of year? Does it use drinking water, recycled water or desalinated water? What capacity does the network have, and what are the priority rules when supplies are strained? The information available on Batam does not answer all these questions for every facility in the park.

Gaw Capital Partners, the owner of one of the sites, said it was aware of the distress and frustration expressed in the communities of Nongsa and the surrounding area. The company says it uses closed-loop water systems, among other things. These reuse water within the system and can reduce the need for fresh water; they do not mean that the facility has no need for water. The developer of Nongsa Digital Park did not respond to requests for comment reported in the article.

Desalination or recycling: responses with constraints of their own

In late September, the authorities asked developers to build seawater desalination facilities for cooling, in order to limit pressure on local resources. Desalinated water can diversify supply, but the report gives no construction timetable, projected volumes or associated energy requirements. This is therefore an announced requirement, not an effect already measured in relation to the water cuts.

Closed-loop recycling addresses a different issue: limiting the amount of water that needs to be replenished for the system to operate. To assess its benefits, it is necessary to know the volume of water actually drawn, the losses, periods of peak demand and the source of make-up water. A measure can reduce pressure without eliminating it, and its local value depends on the resource it helps preserve.

The supplier ABH says it is working to increase the capacity of Batam’s six reservoirs. Cloud seeding, which aims to induce rainfall, has also been raised as an option during periods of drought. These approaches address different things: increasing storage, diversifying sources or influencing rainfall. Their mention does not mean they are already being implemented, or that they will be enough to secure the water supply.

Regional expansion makes planning crucial

Batam is part of a broader trend around Singapore. After Singapore suspended new data centre projects between 2019 and 2022, investment shifted towards Indonesia and Malaysia. The region’s geographical proximity to the city-state, its infrastructure and the outlook for digital demand have helped make it attractive. But the arrival of new capacity does not automatically lead to better services for nearby communities.

In a report on a webinar held on 29 October 2026 at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, researcher James Chai describes Malaysian capacity as having increased fourteenfold between 2019 and 2025. He links this growth to connectivity, available resources, proximity to Singapore and computing demand. This refers to Malaysia: it places Batam within a regional expansion, without establishing that an Indonesian site was responsible for local water cuts.

The same report says that Malaysian authorities tightened their scrutiny of water applications: 142 million litres per day are said to have been approved, compared with more than 800 million requested. Solutions such as recycled water and air cooling are prioritised in some cases. But air cooling can increase electricity consumption; shifting some demand from one resource to another does not make the trade-off disappear.

Measure the effects rather than confusing announcements with results

For Batam residents, the immediate issue remains the reliability and quality of the water supplied. Local residents have reported that water delivered by tanker was yellowish and foul-smelling: these descriptions reflect their experience, but do not amount to an analysis of its quality. To assess the responses, it would be necessary to monitor interruptions, water quality, reservoir levels, withdrawals by different sectors and the sources used by data centres over time.

This transparency would also make it possible to distinguish announced infrastructure from a site already in operation, and then compare actual withdrawals with authorised capacity. As digital needs grow, the question is not simply whether a data centre uses water. It is to establish which resource it draws on, in which basin and under what rules when water becomes scarce. In Batam, the cuts and accusations have brought this question into view; the available evidence does not yet make it possible to attribute the crisis to a single cause.