Treated Water Prioritised For Households Not Data Centres

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PARLIAMENT | Domestic users are prioritised for treated water distribution, not commercial users, Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasir said.
He was responding to a question from Jimmy Puah (Harapan-Tebrau), who asked whether the needs of data centres were given priority during the recent water disruptions in Johor.
Akmal said he had gone to the ground during the event and posed similar questions to the state water operator, Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd.
"What I was told is that firstly, the capacity stored in the data centres was sufficient to continue their functions.
"Second, I understand that they (data centres) also took the initiative to buy water manually through their own tanker trucks.
"So, no one party was given preference," Akmal said in his winding-up speech for the Supply Bill 2026 at the committee stage.
Supply disrupted
According to The Star, nearly 800,000 people in Johor were hit with an unscheduled water disruption after pollution in Sungai Johor caused several water treatment plants to halt operations on Nov 1.
A separate report from Bernama cited state Works, Transportation, Infrastructure and Communications Committee chairperson Fazli Salleh as saying that Sungai Johor's raw turbidity level had jumped to an alarming 37,400 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), instead of the usual 400 NTU.
This report was part of the “Dark Side of the Boom” collaborative reporting project on resource-intensive digital technology in Asia.
The project is a collaboration between Internews, Earth Journalism Network, SourceMaterial, the Pulitzer Centre’s AI Accountability Initiative, and 14 media outlets reporting across 11 countries.
Join the investigative reporters behind this series for an in-person fireside chat at 1.15pm this Sunday, Nov 23 near KLCC to unpack the hidden costs of Asia's digital revolution.
RSVP to get more details, limited seats only. - Mkini

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