Lates News

The Australian government did not require the approval of quantifiable water-saving plans when approving the construction of data centers, causing concerns that the rapid growth of the industry will lead residents into a water resource competition. Documents show that since expanding planning permissions in 2021, the New South Wales government, which oversees Australia's largest city, has approved all 10 applications for the construction of data centers. The applicants include Microsoft (MSFT.US), Amazon (AMZN.US), and AirTrunk, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group (BX.US). These centers will bring a total construction expenditure of $6.6 billion Australian dollars ($4.35 billion US dollars), but will ultimately consume as much as 9.6 billion liters of clean water each year, close to 2% of Sydney's largest water supply.