Key facts
- Amazon responding to scrutiny over water use at India data centres
- Company points to water conservation steps taken at Indian facilities
- Data centre cooling systems are major consumers of local water resources
- India is a fast-growing market for hyperscale cloud infrastructure
Amazon has pushed back against scrutiny of its data centres' water consumption in India, pointing to a series of conservation measures the company says it has implemented across its facilities in the country. The disclosure, reported by The Hindu, comes as India's data centre boom draws increasing attention to the environmental trade-offs of cloud infrastructure.
Hyperscale data centres rely heavily on water for cooling systems, and as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others race to expand capacity in India to meet surging demand for cloud and AI services, questions about resource consumption have sharpened. India's water stress, particularly in regions where data centre clusters are concentrated, makes the issue acutely sensitive.
Amazon's response did not specify exact volumes of water consumed or saved, but the company indicated it has adopted water-efficient cooling technologies and is working towards water-positive commitments at its Indian operations. The scrutiny reflects a broader global reckoning with the environmental costs of the AI and cloud computing buildout, which has strained power grids and water systems in multiple countries.
For India, the stakes are particularly high: the government is actively courting hyperscalers to invest in domestic data infrastructure as part of its digital economy ambitions, but that push must be balanced against the country's mounting water security challenges. Regulators and civil society groups are likely to press for greater transparency on consumption data as new facilities come online.