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Coastal Visakhapatnam Faces Ecological Peril from Massive Data Center Project
18 Oct
Summary
- Groundwater depletion, erratic rainfall plague Visakhapatnam
- Data centers will divert precious water from local residents
- Projects pose threat of toxic waste, greenhouse gas emissions
In October 2025, the Andhra Pradesh government's approval of massive Google-Adani data center projects in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts has sparked concerns over the impending environmental and economic impact. The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has cautioned that these water and energy-intensive facilities will exacerbate the region's existing water stress, depleting precious groundwater and disrupting local water sources.
Visakhapatnam, a coastal city prone to cyclones and climate variability, is already grappling with rampant real estate expansion that has stripped tree cover and disrupted natural drainage. Establishing such a large-scale, heat-intensive data center complex in this fragile terrain is deemed "ecologically reckless" by the HRF. The projects, spanning 480 acres across three sites, are expected to consume billions of liters of water annually for cooling and maintenance, further straining the region's limited water resources.
Experts warn that the data centers' massive energy demands, equivalent to powering a mid-size city, will also burden the already overburdened grid, with the facilities relying heavily on fossil fuels despite claims of renewable energy use. Additionally, the projects risk generating toxic waste and greenhouse gas emissions, undermining global climate goals.
