THE National Water Resources Commission (SPAN) wants the federal government to formulate sustainable policies for the proposed setting up of data centres.
Such steps are crucial to ensure water resources are not drastically compromised because such hi-tech centres require a huge flow of water to ensure their cooling system operates around the clock.
This is to meet the demand for households, commercial and industrial sectors, said SPAN chairman Charles Santiago.
In a statement, Santiago said that to reduce the impact on the environment due to the water-reliance data centres, certain steps must be undertaken.
He also underscored the importance of ensuring that the bulk of jobs created from the data centres are for the local work job market.
Data centres are physical facilities that organizations use to house their critical applications and data.
A data centre's design is based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data.
Among SPAN's recommendations, are for data centres to only be situated in water catchment areas,
There is also a need to upgrade the capacity building of the Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS) and for the authority to impose a zero discharge policy on the industrial sector.
SPAN also wants to see states such as Selangor incorporate recycled wastewater into the operations of supplying to the industrial area.
Although the data centres are relatively new in the country, it is expanding on a fast-track basis, he noted.
The new conditions need to be incorporated within the next three to five years, Santiago pointed out.
Besides the use of recycled wastewater, Santiago also wants the data center operators to install an efficient cooling system, so the reliance on water would be reduced.
Santiago also suggested that the data centres use water recirculating by using cycles of concentration to process the use of water in cycles at such centres.
Such technology is being used presently in Singapore.
Water authorities also need to ensure better monitoring and measurement in real-time of supplying to the industries besides the data centres.
Santiago said this because data centers including those of large scale such as hyperscale, are now making their debut in the country in line with the growth of technology.
"Data centres are now crucial in the development of 5G connection, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Storage, Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) mining, and digital banking.
"We also need to be prepared for climate change, which tends to spark droughts," said Santiago. - January 22, 2025.
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