Google’s $15bn India data centre is running into water and wildlife

Google’s biggest bet in India is meeting resistance on the ground. Its $15bn data-centre project in Visakhapatnam has run into mounting opposition over water use and the wildlife living beside it.

The project is enormous by any measure. Built with Gautam Adani’s group, it is one of the largest data-centre investments anywhere, and the state promises it could create up to 188,000 jobs.

Water is the sharpest flashpoint. Visakhapatnam receives about 410 million litres a day against demand of 480 million, so the city of 2.5 million already rations water before a giant new customer arrives.

Residents fear the maths only gets worse. Activists argue that a thirsty data centre will strain reservoirs and deepen shortages, turning a public resource toward cooling servers rather than serving homes.

The state has tried to reassure them. The government has guaranteed the project’s water for 20 years and insists no rural drinking water will be diverted, a promise critics find hard to square with existing scarcity.

Google says its design limits the problem. The company points to advanced air cooling meant to protect vital local water resources, an approach that reduces, though does not eliminate, the water a hyperscale site consumes.

Then there is the wildlife. The Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary sits just 860 metres away, home to leopards and pangolins, and conservationists warn that construction noise and heavy machinery could disrupt a fragile habitat.

The dispute has reached the courts. Multiple legal challenges have been filed in the environmental court, and a High Court hearing is scheduled for later this month, putting the timeline under real pressure.

The state insists it has done its homework. Officials deny fast-tracking the project without a proper risk assessment, and say the approvals followed the required environmental scrutiny rather than bypassing it.

For India, the stakes go beyond one city. The country wants to become a hub for the global AI build-out, and how it handles Visakhapatnam will shape whether other hyperscale projects meet resistance or a welcome.

The protests have a slogan. Marchers have carried banners reading “We cannot drink DATA,” a blunt encapsulation of a community weighing promised jobs against everyday necessities.

Campaigners frame it as a matter of priorities. Green Visakha’s founder Raja Rama Mohan Roy put it plainly, arguing that development should not come at the cost of people’s livelihoods.

The backlash is not unique to India. Data-centre opposition has gone national in the United States, with protests recorded across dozens of states as communities push back on the AI build-out.

Water is the recurring flashpoint. Even defenders concede the issue is fraught, and claims that data centres use less water than golf courses have drawn scrutiny once the real figures are examined.

Some governments have started to intervene. New York became the first US state to freeze new data centres for a year, a sign that the permitting free-for-all is beginning to tighten.

Google’s defenders point to its broader record. The company has made public commitments on water stewardship and clean energy, and argues that projects like this one can be built responsibly with the right cooling and sourcing.

Critics counter that pledges are easy in the abstract. What matters in Visakhapatnam is where the water actually comes from, and whether guarantees made to a corporation hold up when a dry year forces hard choices.

India’s dilemma is the boom in miniature. It wants the investment and the jobs, but the projects that promise them carry real environmental costs, and Visakhapatnam is where that trade-off is now being fought.