F E A T U R E
HOW EFFICIENT WATER TREATMENT KEEPS DATA CENTRES SUSTAINABLE DURING RAPID GROWTH
Chris Payne, Co-founder and Director of PureTec Separations, discusses how data centres can ensure they continue to contribute to the wider sustainability agenda whilst experiencing times of high growth – and the central role that water treatment plays in achieving this.
The surge in computing power demands, driven largely by the rise of Artificial Intelligence( AI), is reshaping the operational priorities of data centres worldwide.
According to industry projections, computing power is expected to grow significantly within the next five years, with the water demand of AI alone forecasted to reach 6.6 billion litres annually by 2027.
As the backbone of the digital economy, data centres must grapple with this exponential growth while ensuring they remain environmentally compliant and manage public perception at a time where sustainability is at the forefront of the global agenda.
Water treatment – a critical yet often overlooked aspect of data centre operations – presents an opportunity to reconcile these dual imperatives of scalability and sustainability.
The key components of water treatment in data centres
Water is indispensable to data centre operations, and its treatment is required primarily in three areas: the pretreatment of incoming water, processing water used in cooling systems and the careful management of wastewater. Innovating within these areas will ensure that data centres can meet and exceed performance benchmarks, comply with environmental regulations and uphold their broader sustainability objectives.
The quality of incoming water directly impacts the efficiency and longevity of data centre cooling systems. Pretreatment
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