Why water will remain a stubborn problem for data centres
Legacy designs, costly retrofits, and AI workloads are all pulling in the wrong direction.
Humans can't do without water. As it turns out, neither can most data centres, especially the latest ones, which need staggering volumes of it to operate.
That makes water one of the industry's most persistent constraints. And contrary to what some hope, it isn't a problem that will go away anytime soon.
'It's always done this way'
For decades, data centres were designed and built around the use of chillers and cooling towers. The solution worked, it was familiar, and so people kept designing it that way.
Crucially, customers also kept asking for very cold data halls, which necessitated such an architecture in the first place.
This is the impetus behind the introduction of standards such as Singapore's SS 697:2023 for operating data centres at higher temperatures and humidity levels.
Challenge of retrofitting
Retrofitting existing facilities is costly, causes downtime, and carries a non-zero risk of outages. So why bother? Indeed, I've heard of just one example where an operational data centre retrofitted its cooling systems.
Things are changing though. In Singapore, a minister earlier this year said the island state would soon impose PUE requirements on both old and new data centres.
Because mechanical cooling systems consume a significant amount of power, a demand to improve PUE might yet lead to the use of more water-efficient cooling systems.
Surge in AI workloads
The surge in AI workloads has dramatically increased chip density and heat output per rack. Ironically, this has pushed some operators to add more water-based cooling, not less.
The scale of data centres has also grown, increasing demand on water. Where 30MW was plenty in 2000, data centre campuses today are tipping the scales at 300MW or more.
The road ahead
Radical new designs such as Keppel's floating data centre, which is finally under construction, could reshape data centre cooling if it deploys advanced solutions such as seawater cooling.
Of course, this isn't something that is confirmed. In addition, the corrosive nature of seawater means new solutions will need to be designed.
For now, data centre operators will need to keep an eye on their water consumption by ensuring minimal wastage and maximising reuse.
