Its Looting: Thirsty Uruguayans Blow Up Google’s Plan to Exploit the Water Supply | Uruguay

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A plan to build a Google data center that will use millions of liters of water a day has sparked anger in Uruguay, which is suffering its worst drought in 74 years.

Water shortages are so severe in the country that a state of emergency has been declared in Montevideo and authorities have added salt water to public supplies of drinking water, sparking widespread protests.

Critics say the government is prioritizing water for multinational corporations and agribusiness at the expense of its own citizens. Daniel Pea, a researcher at the University of the Republic of Montevideo, said: Only a small part of the water in Uruguay is used for human consumption. Most of it is used for large agri-food industries, such as soybean, rice and pulp. We now have Google planning to use massive amounts of water.

The search giant has bought 29 hectares (72 acres) of land to build a data center in Canelones department in southern Uruguay. The center would use 7.6 million liters (2 million gallons) of water a day to cool its servers, equivalent to the daily household use of 55,000 people, according to Environment Ministry data obtained by Pea through an action legal. The water would come directly from the public drinking water system, according to Pea.

The Uruguayan industry ministry says these figures are out of date because the company is revising its plans and the datacenter will be smaller.

In a statement, Google said the hub will serve Google users around the world, processing requests for services like YouTube, Gmail and Google Search. The data center project in Uruguay is still in the exploratory stage and the Google technical team is actively working with the support of national and local authorities. We expect preliminary numbers (such as projected water consumption) to undergo adjustments. At Google, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, and the way we design and operate our data centers is no exception.

Extremely low rainfall levels and record temperatures have left Uruguay’s main reservoir dry and rivers running dry, and to compensate for the supply, public water authorities have begun drawing water from the Rio de la Plata estuary, where sea water mixes with fresh water, giving tap water a salty taste.

The Paso Severino Dam in Florida, Uruguay on July 4, 2023. The South American country is suffering its worst drought in 74 years. Photo: Matilde Campodonico/AP

Foul-tasting tap water has wreaked havoc in a country that has the highest GDP per capita in South America and was the first country in the world to declare access to water a constitutional right.

The government has doubled the permitted levels of sodium chloride in tap water and is advising pregnant women and people with serious health conditions not to drink it. Parents have been advised to prepare baby milk with bottled water and not to add salt to babies’ food.

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou announced emergency measures such as the abolition of taxes on bottled water and the free distribution of two liters (half a gallon) of water a day to 21,000 poor or vulnerable families. He has also promised to build a new tank in 30 days.

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But public anger remains widespread. Tap water is practically undrinkable. But there are an estimated 500,000 people who can’t afford to buy bottled water, said Carmen Sosa of the Union-backed Commission for the Defense of Water and Life. Her slogan, This is not drought, its looting, is scrawled on the walls of Montevideo.

More than 80% of the water goes to industry, such as soybeans and pulp. Yes, we have had rain shortages, but the drought has simply exposed the problems with our economic model. We cannot concentrate resources in a few hands, Sosa said. Water for human consumption must come before profit.

Last month, the world’s largest pulp mill started operations in Uruguay, the third such plant in the country. The new plant, operated by the Finnish company UPM to create raw material for paper, is expected to use 129.6 million liters (34 million gallons) of water per day and discharges the effluent into a local river. UPM said it treats the effluents before release and continuously monitors the water quality in the Ro Negro.

A UPM spokesman told the Guardian: Uruguay is facing its worst drought in a century. In this context, UPM’s operations in Uruguay have no connection with the current drought. The drinking water consumed in Montevideo comes from the Santa Luca River. None of the paper mills installed in Uruguay is connected to this river. This difficult climatic situation cannot be associated in any way with the forest sector.

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