A plan to build a Google data centre that will use millions of litres of water a day has sparked anger in Uruguay, which is suffering its worst drought in 74 years.
Water shortages are so severe in the country that a state of emergency has been declared in Montevideo and the authorities have added salty water to the public drinking water supplies, prompting widespread protests.
Critics claim that the government is prioritising water for transnationals and agribusiness at the expense of its own citizens.
The search giant has bought 29 hectares (72 acres) of land to build a datacentre in Canelones department, in southern Uruguay. The centre would use 7.6m litres (2m gallons) of water a day to cool its servers – equivalent to the domestic daily use of 55,000 people, according to figures from the Ministry of Environment. The water would come directly from the public drinking water system. According to Uruguay’s industry ministry, these figures are out of date because the company is revising its plans, and the datacentre will be “a smaller size”.
In a statement, Google said the hub would serve Google users worldwide, processing requests for services such as YouTube, Gmail and Google Search. “The Uruguay data centre project is still in the exploratory phase, and Google’s technical team is actively working with the support of national and local authorities. We expect preliminary numbers (like projected water consumption) to undergo adjustments. At Google, sustainability is at the core of everything we do, and the way we design and manage our data centres is no exception,” it said.
Extremely low rainfall levels and record high temperatures have left Uruguay’s main reservoir dry and rivers depleted, and to make up the supply, public water authorities have started taking water from the Rio de la Plata estuary, where seawater mixes with freshwater, giving tap water a salty taste.
The foul-tasting tap water has caused shock waves in a country which has the highest GDP per capita in South America and was the first country in the world to declare access to water a constitutional right.
The government has doubled the permitted levels of sodium chloride in tap water and is advising pregnant women and people with serious health conditions not to drink it. Parents have been advised to prepare baby milk with bottled water and not to add salt to children’s food.
Uruguay’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, has announced emergency measures such as lifting taxes on bottled water and distributing two litres (a half gallon) of free water a day to 21,000 poor or vulnerable families. He has also promised to build a new reservoir in 30 days.
Tap water is virtually undrinkable. But there are approximately 500,000 people who can’t afford to buy bottled water.
Source: The Guardian
Image courtesy: AP (Paso Severino dam in Florida, Uruguay)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/11/uruguay-drought-water-google-data-center
