Google Visakhapatnam AI hub faces water protests

Google is defending its Visakhapatnam AI hub against mounting local opposition, as residents of the water-stressed Indian port city protest a $15 billion data-center campus they fear will drain already scarce resources. Alexander Smith, the company's head of infrastructure and energy for Asia-Pacific, told AFP the gigawatt-scale facility will use advanced air cooling instead of water-based cooling, a choice shaped by the company's own assessment of pressure on the local watershed. The campus, which Google is building with the Adani Group, is set to become operational in 2028.

The resistance has been vocal. According to Reuters, activists and children marched through Visakhapatnam carrying banners arguing that people cannot drink data, alongside imagery showing handcuffs over the Google logo. Groups organized partly through the Stop Dirty Data Centres campaign have called for a statewide moratorium on new data centers until independent environmental and social impact evaluations are published. The planned Visakhapatnam AI hub has become a rallying point for the campaign, even as construction moves ahead.

The water numbers explain the anger. Raja Rama Mohan Roy, founder of the nonprofit Green Visakha, cited government figures showing the city receives 410 million litres of water a day against a requirement of 480 million litres, Reuters reported. Rationing is already common in the city of 2.5 million people. Google does not dispute the shortfall, but says the Visakhapatnam AI hub was designed around it, with air cooling selected from the outset and a pledge to replenish more freshwater than its non-cooling operations consume.

Land, wildlife and the courts

Displacement and ecology have deepened the grievances. Environmental groups have filed a public interest case in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the project's environmental clearances, with three more cases pending before the National Green Tribunal, according to local reporting. Campaigners point to the site's proximity to the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, a habitat for leopards and pangolins that sits about 860 metres from the proposed campus. One farmer, Chandala Sadamma, told local media she received roughly eighty-two thousand dollars for a two-acre plot of mango and cashew trees, compensation she says does not reflect the land's value. New housing is being built for displaced residents, but many say the offers fall short.

The dispute has also pulled in wider questions about who benefits. Google has said the project could create 188,000 jobs, a figure residents doubt, questioning how many of the positions will reach locals rather than imported specialists.

Google's case for air cooling

Google's defense of the Visakhapatnam AI hub rests on engineering choices and economics. Smith told AFP that independent environmental assessments, covering grid stability, power supply, water risk, ecology and acoustics, are conducted 12 to 24 months before any project begins. Where power is insufficient, he said, Google either finds a way to develop more or does not build there. For freshwater consumed by the facility's non-cooling needs, the company has committed to replenishing 120 percent of the volume it consumes across its operations by 2030.

On the economics, Smith said a development of this scale is projected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in local economic activity each year, with nine additional community jobs for every role inside the data center. A typical three-to-five-year construction run employs several thousand construction workers annually, he added, and each facility is designed to operate for decades once live. Visakhapatnam's coastline also gives the site an edge, he said: undersea cables link the city to South Africa and Australia, positioning Andhra Pradesh as India's third major subsea hub.

A dispute that goes beyond one city

The fight is part of a wider global pattern. Reuters reported that data-center projects have faced similar opposition in the United States, where 142 protests were held across 42 states in July over water and power concerns. Separately, AFP reported that a Finnish authority recently ordered work halted on two Google data-center sites pending mandatory environmental assessments. Google chose Visakhapatnam for proximity to users, access to talent and clean-energy potential, Smith said, but the company now faces months of scrutiny before its biggest AI hub outside the United States wins over the city around it.

For now, construction continues while the courts and the campaigners make their cases.