Deputy energy transition and water transformation minister Akmal Nasir said these data centres had sufficient water reserves to continue running despite water cuts earlier this month caused by pollution in Sungai Johor.

A total of 455,499 accounts were affected by the unscheduled disruption, triggered by the collapse of a sand-dredging pond owned by a company at a Kota Tinggi inland sand mining site.

“I was made to understand that they have taken the initiative to purchase water manually using their own tankers.

“So, there is no issue of favouring one party over another,” Akmal said while winding up the committee level debate on the Supply Bill (Budget) 2026 for his ministry today.

He said Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with Johor Special Water Sdn Bhd, supplied 12 million litres of treated effluents from 13 waste treatment plants a day to data centres in the state.

There have been concerns that the high consumption of water by data centres would strain water supply for domestic consumers.

In February, then National Water Services Commission chairman Charles Santiago said less than 18% of local data centres’ applications for water were approved last year because of concerns over insufficient resources.

Santiago said the 72 data centres in Johor, 27 in Selangor, and two in Negeri Sembilan had requested 808 million litres per day (MLD), but only 142.06 MLD were approved.

In August, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said the government was working with state regulators to introduce a specific water tariff for data centres and heavy industrial users.

He said Putrajaya also encouraged the adoption of recycled water and district cooling systems to reduce the strain on clean water resources.