What happened
Civil society groups petitioned the South African Human Rights Commission over a lack of awareness of data center water consumption in a country hosting 60 data centers and facing climate-change-induced drought.
Why it matters
The petition warns that sites consuming up to 5 million gallons per day are going unscrutinized in a water-stressed country, so the risk is that resource-intensive facilities expand without oversight.
What to watch
Whether the Human Rights Commission acts on the petition is the test, since no response is reported. One study found ChatGPT-4 used up to 60 liters of water for a 10-page paper.
WHO IT HITSPolicymakers and regulators overseeing data center permits and water rights in drought-prone regions are the ones who would act on these concerns, along with the operators planning hyperscale sites there.
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The petition to the South African Human Rights Commission follows years in which AI companies have moved to build data centers in Africa, drawn by cheaper power and land. South Africa already hosts 60 data centers and is coping with climate-change-induced drought, a combination the petitioners say has left water consumption by these facilities largely unnoticed.
Water usage by data centers is a problem globally, but the article notes Africa is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A recent study modelling water use in African data centers found that ChatGPT-4 used up to 60 liters of water — about a standard washing machine cycle — to produce a 10-page paper, while large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day.
The stakes hinge on whether the Human Rights Commission takes up the petition and whether operators of hyperscale sites face closer scrutiny on water. For now the petition is a signal that civil society groups see data centers as comparable in resource intensity to extractive industries, and that they want that comparison to be part of any regulatory review.
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