Google and Amazon face a harsh reality as their data center operations consume huge amounts of water.
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| Drought pushes tech giants into Latin America's water crisis. (Source: AP) |
The water crisis caused by prolonged drought in parts of South America is forcing tech companies like Google and Amazon to confront a harsh reality: data center operations are consuming huge amounts of water, putting pressure on an already scarce resource.
To meet the growing demand for data storage from billions of connected devices, data centers have sprung up around the world. However, few people realize that the complex cooling systems that these systems use make up 40% of the structure, consuming a huge amount of water.
In Chile, Google's plans to build Latin America's largest data center in Cerrillos have met with strong opposition from the local community.
According to the original plan, this center will consume up to 7 billion liters of water per year, equivalent to the daily needs of 80,000 people.
Under pressure from the public and regulators, Google has had to adjust its plans, switching to air-cooling technology, significantly reducing water consumption. However, in existing data centers, changing the cooling system is very difficult and expensive.
Amazon is also facing similar challenges in Chile and Uruguay. The company has pledged to make all of its data centers water-friendly by 2030. However, the reality is that achieving this goal is not easy.
Because data centers operate 24/7, it is difficult to change cooling systems once they are built, said local environmental activist Rodrigo Vallejos.
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