Batam residents have taken to the streets, chanting “Water! Water!” as they stormed a compound housing data centres in the island’s Nongsa Digital Park. Around three hundred locals, many from the village of Bakau Serip, said their household taps have run dry for three months while the facilities appeared to have ample water to keep servers cool. Dewi Susanti, one of the protesters, told the BBC: “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.” She added that her community now relies on tanker trucks delivering “dirty, cloudy and smelly” water.
Batam’s water utility said it is working to improve supplies but declined to comment on whether the shortage is linked to data centre demand. BP Batam, the agency overseeing trade and industry, attributed the crisis to a prolonged dry spell and rejected claims that water destined for homes is being diverted to the facilities.
Residents Rally Over Dry Taps
The demonstration is not isolated. Similar protests erupted in August and September, prompting authorities to instruct new data centre operators to construct their own desalination plants rather than draw from the island’s reservoirs. Despite this directive, locals argue they are now forced to compete with servers for a dwindling resource.
Agus Hasan, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, warned that reliable data on water consumption by Indonesian data centres remains scarce because companies treat the information as proprietary. He urged: “We should build [data centres] rationally, transparently, and responsibly, and insist on seeing the numbers… [Otherwise] those kept in the dark while their taps run dry will push back, and rightly so.”
Water Use and Environmental Concerns
Global unease about data centres is growing, with complaints ranging from neighbourhood disruption and constant machine hum to security lighting that stays on all night. While electricity powers the centres, water is essential for cooling systems that prevent overheating. Research in the United States indicates a typical facility consumes roughly 300,000 gallons of water per day—about the usage of 1,000 American households. A larger 50 MW plant could require as much water as 2,200 households daily and enough electricity to power 22,000 homes, according to Malaysia’s central bank.
Exact figures for Batam’s data centres are unavailable, but the island already faces chronic water shortages, exacerbated this year by a historic “super” El Niño. With no natural freshwater sources, Batam’s 1.3 million residents depend on rainwater stored in six artificial reservoirs. Simulations by the local environmental group Akar Bhumi Indonesia show that the Nongsa reservoir, which supplies Bakau Serip, could dry up within the next month if no rain falls.
Dewi explained the personal toll: “The water shortage is affecting our livelihoods… Money that should be used to buy rice is now spent on water drums,” and noted that her husband often waits overnight for water before heading to work. The water utility has previously mentioned cloud seeding as a possible measure should the crisis persist, though it directed the BBC to earlier statements when asked about the recent protests.
Economic Drivers Behind the Boom
Batam’s appeal to investors stems from low operating costs, its proximity to Singapore—just an hour away by ferry—and links to major subsea cable routes. Official data put cumulative investment in the island’s data centre sector at more than $6.7 billion (£5.1 billion) as of mid‑2026.
The surge follows Singapore’s pause on data centre construction in 2019 due to land and energy constraints. The city‑state lifted the ban in 2022 after introducing stricter efficiency standards, prompting investors to look toward neighbouring regions. Singapore has long promoted the Riau Islands, which includes Batam, and the Malaysian state of Johor as “complementary” hubs. Johor approved data centre projects worth tens of billions, only to face resident backlash over noise, dust and water shortages, leading the state to regulate water and electricity consumption.
In Batam, authorities have approved ten data centres, six of which are slated for Nongsa Digital Park. Two are already operational, a third is under construction, and at least six more are under review.
Notable projects include a 13,000‑square‑metre facility developed by Hong Kong‑based Gaw Capital and Indonesian firm Sinar Primera. In April, Singapore’s DayOne signed a deal with an Indonesian state utility to build one of the nation’s largest data centres—approximately 450 MW, sufficient to power 350,000 average households. In June, DayOne, chip‑maker Nvidia and Australian AI start‑up Firmus Technologies unveiled a 360 MW “AI factory.” Official projections estimate that by 2030 power demand from Batam’s data centres could exceed 1,100 MW, enough to supply nearly a million homes.
The BBC has approached DayOne, Sinar Primera and Gaw Capital for comment.
Local Voices Call for Change
The rapid construction has heightened anxiety among residents, who urge officials to prioritise community needs over investor interests. Marlinda, who lives in the Sei Beduk district also experiencing water shortages, said: “Don’t just sit at the top and keep approving these projects. Come down here and see for yourselves what we are wrestling with.” She added, “We want the government to pay attention to ordinary people.” Another resident echoed the sentiment: “Don’t make billion‑rupiah investments while ordinary people are made to suffer… We are not asking for anything extravagant. We just want our water supply restored.”
Why it Matters
The clash in Batam underscores a growing global tension: the digital economy’s thirst for water and energy is increasingly colliding with the basic needs of local populations. As data centres proliferate to support AI and cloud services, regions with limited freshwater resources face difficult trade‑offs between economic development and environmental sustainability. Without transparent reporting on water usage and enforceable safeguards, communities risk bearing the hidden costs of technological progress, potentially eroding public trust and sparking further unrest. Ensuring that expansion is matched by responsible resource management is not just a local concern—it is a prerequisite for the long‑term viability of the digital infrastructure that underpins the modern world.
