In India’s Bengaluru’s water-stressed areas sit most of its data centres.
Bengaluru’s AI rush has turned the city into a hotspot for new data-centre projects. But as these always-on, water-hungry facilities multiply, they’re colliding with a familiar problem. The city’s aquifers are running low. Karnataka now has to figure out how to chase digital growth without deepening its water crisis.
Every summer, Bengaluru goes back to doing what it knows too well — figuring out how to make its water last. The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) puts out its action plan, neighbourhoods brace for tighter days, and tankers begin to fill the gaps.
But this time, the city is juggling an additional demand, one that doesn’t slow down when the taps do — its data centres, and the water they greedily consume.
