Johor will no longer approve water guzzling data centres, which can use up to 50 million litres a day, enough to supply more than 300,000 households or meet the daily drinking needs of 25 million people.
According to a report by New Strait Times, State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor was quoted as saying that the decision was part of new requirements governing data-centre development in the state.
The new rules, involving a review by 20 agencies, are now the most stringent and coordinated at state level in Malaysia.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 data centres, categorised as high water users, consume about 200 times more water than Tier 3 and Tier 4 centres, which typically use 200,000 litres a day.
Data centres rely heavily on fresh water for cooling, leading to increasingly unsustainable consumption levels.
“We do not take decisions to approve data centres lightly,” Jafni said..
