By Ahmed Yussuf
Publication Date: 2025-12-09 18:55:00
Australia’s data centers should be built near waste treatment plants to avoid using potable water to power the thirsty facilities, according to one of the country’s leading stormwater treatment experts.
The Commonwealth last week unveiled its 37-page National AI Plan, which sets out a roadmap to boost the development and adoption of artificial intelligence by encouraging investment in workforce training and data center storage servers.
The United Nations Environment Program has highlighted that data centers “use large amounts of energy and water, and we know that consumption will only increase globally.”
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University of Melbourne Professor Tim Fletcher, an urban eco-hydrologist, said governments needed to start planning now as Australia was already facing droughts and water shortages.
The World Economic Forum estimates that a one-megawatt data center could use up to 25.5 million liters of water each year just for cooling, comparable to the daily water consumption of…
