VISAKHAPATNAM : With the city’s water capacity expected to rise from the present 500 million litres per day (MLD) to around 2,100 MLD once Polavaram water reaches Visakhapatnam, the region will have adequate reserves to meet both civic and industrial demand, even with the proposed Google data centre, Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat has maintained.
The MP pointed out that the projected water requirement of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation region by 2040 was around 1,500 MLD, leaving nearly 600 MLD as a buffer even after accounting for future industrial growth.
“Today, Visakhapatnam consumes about 500-530 MLD. Once the water from Polavaram reaches Visakhapatnam, our capacity will go up to 2,100 MLD. Even if we estimate that Greater North Andhra will require about 1,500 MLD by 2040, there would still be 600 MLD in excess,” Sribharat remarked during a interaction with select media persons at his residence in Visakhapatnam. He assured that industrial projects would not draw from the water supplied to households, as their requirements would be met through dedicated pipelines. Google, he added, has confirmed that its proposed data centre would use air-cooling technology rather than water-based cooling.
“Google has, on record, confirmed that it will use air-cooling technology. But even if all the upcoming data centres use water-cooling technology, there is no question of any impact on the water supply to Visakhapatnam,” he said.
According to the MP, the State is also looking at additional storage and desalination facilities to diversify its water sources and prepare for variations in rainfall.
Sribharat highlighted the availability of power as another factor in attracting large industrial and digital investments to the region.