Johor and Batam data centres for Singapore
- Government and regulators BP Batam: Attributes the shortage to El Niño.
- Press and investigations The Star (Jakarta Post/ANN): Residents had no piped water for three to six months while data centres were supplied from a separate reservoir through a dedicated pipeline. The Star (Jakarta Post/ANN)
After Singapore limited new data centre capacity, planned capacity grew in neighbouring Johor (Malaysia) and Batam (Indonesia). Johor paused approvals of water-intensive facilities in November 2025, and residents of Batam's Nongsa area, without piped water for three to six months, blocked the road to a data centre park in October 2026.
Fitch, as reported by TechNode Global, 28 August 2026. Planned capacity, not installed capacity.
Status As of October 2026: Nongsa residents blocked the road to a data centre park; Johor's pause on water-intensive approvals continued; no legal proceedings found.
- Nongsa residents, reported without piped water for three to six months — Water supply The Star (Jakarta Post/ANN)
- Nongsa residents — Reported water shortage; attribution disputed The Star (Jakarta Post/ANN)
What happened
Singapore placed a moratorium on new data centres from 2019 to 2022 and kept a strict quota afterwards, according to the record reviewed. In August 2026 Fitch said that Singapore's capacity constraints were steering data centre growth to Malaysia, and put planned capacity at 2,486 MW in Johor against 207 MW in Singapore.
In Johor, the state paused approvals of water-intensive Tier 1 and Tier 2 data centres in November 2025, and deferred their water requests for evaporative cooling to 2027, W.Media reported in May 2026. Moody's projected in September 2026 that data centre demand in Malaysia would reach about 73 TWh by 2035, requiring 14 to 17 GW of capacity on top of 28 GW existing, with gas remaining a transition fuel. Wood Mackenzie projected that data centres could account for about 40 per cent of Johor's electricity demand by 2035.
In Batam, Indonesia, residents of the Nongsa area told The Star (via the Jakarta Post and ANN) in October 2026 that they had been without piped water for three to six months; on 8 October 2026 they blocked the road to a data centre park. The same report said the data centres were supplied from a separate reservoir through a dedicated pipeline.
Katadata reported that nine data centres in Nongsa would request 29 million litres of water a day in 2032, about 8.4 per cent of Batam's supply, and that a request of 1.4 trillion rupiah for repairs to the water network had been rejected by the central government. Batam's authority has linked the shortage to El Niño; whether drought or data centre demand is responsible is disputed in the coverage reviewed.
- 2019Singapore moratorium on new data centres begins (to 2022); strict quota follows
- 2025Johor pauses approval of water-intensive Tier 1–2 data centres (November)
- 2026Fitch: 2,486 MW planned in Johor vs 207 MW in Singapore (August); Moody's and Wood Mackenzie projections (June–September); Nongsa residents block road to data centre park (8 October)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Attributes the shortage to El Niño.
Residents had no piped water for three to six months while data centres were supplied from a separate reservoir through a dedicated pipeline.
The Star (Jakarta Post/ANN)How it looked
Shown
- A 'green data centre' framework for Singapore, announced alongside the moratorium and quota.Government of Singapore
Recorded
- Planned data centre capacity: 2,486 MW in Johor, 207 MW in Singapore (Fitch).
- Johor paused approvals of water-intensive Tier 1–2 data centres in November 2025; their evaporative-cooling water requests were deferred to 2027.
- Nongsa residents without piped water for three to six months; data centres supplied from a separate reservoir by dedicated pipeline.
- Nine Nongsa data centres projected to request 29 million litres a day in 2032, about 8.4% of Batam's supply; a 1.4 trillion rupiah repair request was rejected by the central government.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- bp-batam (2025–2026): Attributes the water shortage to El Niño, according to the coverage reviewed.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed Is the water shortage in Nongsa caused by drought or by data centre demand?
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- Unclear Whether the shortage in Nongsa is caused by drought or by data centre demand: Batam's authority points to El Niño, and the coverage reviewed does not settle the attribution.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a demand of 440 MLD for data centres on Johor's water operator by 2035 (about 23% of 2023 demand) and a tariff of RM5.33 per cubic metre for data centres, which come of a report in The Vibes.
- None on record No ecological assessment of water withdrawals for the Johor or Batam data centres is cited in the sources reviewed.
- None on record No court case, penalty or ruling is reported in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Not on record: the sources reviewed describe the protest of October 2026 and do not report a halt to Batam's data centre expansion. Johor paused approvals of water-intensive facilities in November 2025.
Who paid?
Residents of Nongsa, who were reported without piped water for three to six months while the data centres were supplied through a dedicated line.
Sources
Press and investigations
- [SPECIAL REPORT] How Johor deals with thirsty data centersW.Media · 2026-05-19
- Johor moves to curb high-water data centres amid environmental concernsThe Vibes · 2026-02
- Data center-led demand growth will drive substantial investments in Malaysia's power sector: Moody'sTechNode Global · 2026-09-17
- Singapore's capacity constraints steer data center growth to Malaysia: FitchTechNode Global · 2026-08-28
- Batam residents protest data centre expansion as water shortages worsenThe Star (Jakarta Post/ANN) · 2026-10-08
- A Digital Boom in a Thirsty CityKatadata · 2025-2026
Connected cases
- Cambodian sand exports to Singapore (Koh Kong, Mekong, Bassac) Cambodia · 2007–2026
- Government of Singapore (Ministry of National Development) (Government) — here: Set the moratorium and quota on data centres; there: Importer of the sand; Ministry of National Development
- Carbon credit rating agencies and Space Intelligence rebuttal (Sylvera, BeZero) United Kingdom · 2022–2026
- Government of Singapore (Ministry of National Development) (Government) — here: Set the moratorium and quota on data centres; there: Government that tendered the three raters and set the exclusion rule
- Malaysia banned sea-sand exports to Singapore in 2018, reported only in 2019 Singapore · 2018
- Government of Singapore (Ministry of National Development) (Government) — here: Set the moratorium and quota on data centres; there: Buyer of imported sand; said its imports were commercial