In this article for Michael West media, Claudia Weisenberger assesses the insatiable thirst for water of Australian data centres.

Sydney Water is preparing for data centres to consume 25% of Sydney’s drinking water by 2035.

Article: Waste tsunami. Water and the hidden cost of AI data centres.

Take home quotes:

• No data centre operating in Australia is required to disclose how much water it consumes, nor is there a law currently requiring any of them to recycle it.
• One large AI processing centre consumes about five million litres of water per day — enough to supply 9,000 homes. Sydney Water has received applications from developers seeking connections of up to 40 million litres per day for a single facility
• In NSW alone, 15 data centre projects collectively worth $51.9B have been endorsed.
• Water used in cooling data centers is contaminated with
  Biocides, heavy metals, corrosion inhibitors and PFAS — forever chemicals that do not break down in the environment and are discharged into municipal water systems.
• Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. Two hundred and fifty AI processing centres are operating right now, with 225 more in the pipeline. No law requires any of them to disclose what they consume, what they discharge, or what they leave behind.