Indah Water floats ‘treated wastewater for data centres’ idea
KUALA LUMPUR: Repurposing treated wastewater can help address demand for water from data centres, according to the national sewerage company, Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK).
IWK planning and engineering head Mohd Taufik Salleh explained that the company has the volume of treated wastewater in certain areas which can be used for industrial or data centre purposes.
He said at the FMM Energy Efficiency & Conservation Conference 2024 today.
We are committed to this initiative because we treat more than 7,000 MLD (million litres per day) of water across over 7,000 treatment plants.
“Given the high costs incurred to treat and meet the required standards, it would be wasteful to discharge this water into rivers or streets,”
Mohd Taufik said IWK is looking into potential areas such as Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor, which are industrial areas.
He said,
Data centres are emerging, and they require a lot of water. We have had discussions with Mida (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), which is supportive of this initiative because they want to go green,
He said one data centre alone can consume a lot of water, which is stressing water operators, especially in areas with low reserve margins, such as Johor. Therefore, they can use water from our sewage treatment plants as an alternative.
He said IWK can offer a consistent water supply because a treatment plant operates 24 hours a day.
In fact, during Covid-19, we were not affected because people continued to use the toilet that maintained a constant volume of water to produce.
Mohd Taufik said to use the treated wastewater for industrial purposes IWK is ensuring good treatment,
With this, we can provide alternative water to the water operator. So we do not rely 100% on water from the dam or from the network.
This is something IWK is promoting because it also contributes to environment, social and governance initiatives, helping Malaysia comply with greenhouse gas emission targets, he added. “We currently have one plant in Setia Alam, where we work with Air Selangor.
Mohd Taufik said IWK uses a simple membrane system that employs ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis,
Once we meet the required standard, we supply the water to the industry.
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Indah Water floats ‘treated wastewater for data centres’ idea, source
