Australia Drafts Mandatory Water Efficiency Standards for Data Centres

The Australian government is drafting mandatory national standards to ensure large data centres maximize water efficiency. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water stated that the standards aim to balance the needs of industry, communities, and the environment. The agency noted that data centres will be expected to minimize water use and pay for infrastructure to prevent costs or risks from shifting to households and existing users.

Environmental accounting expert Michael Vardon cautioned that the government is legislating without comprehensive models on actual industry water usage, which creates long-term risks in stressed catchments. This concern is acute in Sydney, where projected data centres could consume 15% to 20% of the city's water supply within a decade, and in Victoria, where 30 proposed projects could significantly spike demand by 2030.

Agricultural groups, including the NSW Irrigators' Council and NSW Farmers, are demanding that data centres follow existing market rules and user-pays principles. These advocates argue that emerging industries should receive no special treatment to avoid compromising food and fibre production. This regulatory tension arrives as a declared El Niño event threatens nearly half of New South Wales with predicted droughts.