India stands at a pivotal crossroads in the global artificial intelligence race. Major conglomerates like Reliance Industries (led by Mukesh Ambani) and the Adani Group (under Gautam Adani) are pouring billions into building massive, AI-ready data centres. From Reliance’s ambitious plans to transform Jamnagar in Gujarat into a gigawatt-scale hub to Adani’s $10 billion investments across states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, these projects signal India’s intent to capture a significant share of the world’s digital infrastructure. Partnerships with global tech giants—such as Google’s $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam with Adani—further underscore this push toward digital sovereignty and economic growth.
Yet, beneath the excitement lies a critical and often overlooked challenge: water scarcity. Data centres, especially those powering AI workloads, are extraordinarily water-intensive due to the cooling systems required to prevent servers from overheating. In evaporative cooling processes common in many facilities, vast amounts of water evaporate to dissipate heat. A typical 100-megawatt data centre in the United States consumes around 20 lakh litres (2 million litres) of water per day—equivalent to the daily needs of roughly 6,500 households. With India’s planned facilities often described as far larger in scale, the potential demand multiplies dramatically.
The locations chosen for many of these projects only heighten the concern. Major data centre hubs are emerging or expanding in cities already grappling with severe water deficits: Navi Mumbai (short by about 80 million litres per day), Delhi NCR (1,100 million litres short), Chennai (713 million litres deficit), Hyderabad (300 million litres short), Bengaluru, and Kolkata. These urban centres, where groundwater tables are rapidly declining, face compounding pressures from population growth, industrialization, and climate variability. Meanwhile, an estimated 163 million Indians still lack reliable access to clean drinking water, and projections warn that 40% of the country’s cities could run out of groundwater for daily needs by 2030.
The broader context of India’s data explosion amplifies the issue. The global digital universe has grown from 2 zettabytes in 2010 to a projected 221 zettabytes by 2026—a 100-fold increase driven by AI, cloud computing, streaming, and the Internet of Things. India generates around 20% of the world’s data but stores only about 3% domestically, making local data centres essential for speed, security, and sovereignty. The 2013 Edward Snowden revelations exposed how foreign-hosted data leaves nations vulnerable to surveillance, espionage, or service disruptions under laws like the U.S. Patriot Act. Regulations such as RBI’s data localization rules for payments further necessitate domestic infrastructure.
However, the environmental toll cannot be ignored. In the United States, where over 5,300 data centres operate (compared to India’s roughly 270), regions like Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County and parts of Georgia have seen rivers dry up, groundwater depletion, noise pollution, and strained power grids from similar facilities. Residents in affected areas report contaminated water supplies, higher utility costs, and disrupted ecosystems. India’s trajectory risks mirroring—or exceeding—these problems, especially in a hotter climate that demands even more intensive cooling.
Projections paint a stark picture: India’s data centre water consumption is expected to more than double from around 150 billion litres in 2025 to over 358 billion litres by 2030. Power demand could reach 57 terawatt-hours annually by the same period—more than double what Indian Railways currently consumes—raising questions about energy security and carbon emissions if reliance on fossil fuels persists.
This is not a call to abandon the AI revolution. Data centres are vital for job creation, technological independence, and positioning India as a global intelligence hub. Rejecting them outright would cede strategic advantages in an era where data control equates to national destiny. Instead, the path forward demands responsible development. Policymakers and industry leaders must prioritize sustainable practices: mandating the use of recycled or treated wastewater (as some U.S. operators have shifted toward), exploring air-cooling or liquid immersion technologies where feasible, enforcing stricter site selection away from high-stress zones, and accelerating renewable energy integration to offset power demands.
Unchecked expansion risks trading long-term water security and public welfare for short-term profits—a compromise that pits digital progress against human survival. India has the opportunity to lead not just in scale, but in sustainable innovation. The question is whether ambition will be tempered by foresight, ensuring that the AI boom benefits all citizens rather than exacerbating one of the country’s most pressing crises.
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