COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 13, 2022

QUESTION NO.8

QUESTION: Councillor L. Dunne

To ask the Chief Executive how many litres of water are Data Centre's within South Dublin Council Area using a day and can this also be broken down to percentage of the overall water consumption within the County?

REPLY:

Irish Water is the Water Services Authority with responsibility for supply of water to all water users including Data Centres.  This question was referred to Irish Water and they have responded as below:  

Data Centres

Irish Water produces circa 1.7 billion litres of water a day. The estimated total annual usage of public water across all known Data Centres in Ireland, based on water consumption recorded during 2021, is circa 810 million litres, which equates to circa 0.13% of total water demand as a percentage of overall water supplied during 2021.

Our records show that there are 24 Data Centres currently connected to Irish Water mains. The data centre sector continues to be concentrated in the Dublin region around the T50 data network and High Voltage electricity transmission network.

Data Centres are one type of Non-Domestic customer and represent a relatively small percentage of current and projected future Non-Domestic use. Data Centres mainly use water only for staff facilities and cleaning; some Data Centres do use water for cooling purposes, but based on the Irish climate, that can be for relatively few days per year.

Data Centres can be cooled by water or air, and that water may be taken from boreholes or from the public water supply (or a mix of both). Data Centres can recycle water and send it back through the data halls several times. We know how much water we supply on a daily or monthly basis, but we cannot say how much water is actually used cooling a Data Centre if they have alternative sources of water or can switch to air cooling.

In planning for future demand, we look at both Domestic and Non-Domestic growth at an overall level using growth projections from the National Planning Framework (NPF), the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies and Local Authority Planning. This information has informed our National Water Resources Plan which is Ireland’s first 25-year strategic plan enabling us to move towards safe, secure, reliable and sustainable water supplies for all of our customers and communities, whilst safeguarding public health and the environmenthttps://www.water.ie/projects/strategic-plans/national-water-resources/.

Irish Water manages the supply and demand balance for water nationally to ensure interruptions to supply are avoided for all sectors. Spikes in water use across Domestic and Non-Domestic use during warm weather events can cause short term peaks in water demand. Irish Water’s policy is to work with developers across all sectors through our Pre-Connection Enquiry process to understand their needs and help develop solutions that address cooling needs whilst minimising demands for water. For Non-Domestic customers, including Data Centres, this involves conditioning developments to provide onsite water storage and water reuse. In this way, water required for cooling purposes can be stored at low demand times of year, and the water is used during peak demand without impacting our networks. The water is then recycled and reused on site for future warm weather events. This means that modern Data Centres have relatively low annual average use (typical use of a building with a canteen and hygiene facilities).

Government policy supports the development of sustainable Data Centres by encouraging a conservation and use-less approach where possible. Irish Water working with Data Centre applicants through our Connection Enquiry process have found that new Data Centres are now availing of water efficient technology which minimises their requirement for water in their cooling processes, supporting our water conservation approach and the wider sustainability agenda.

Irish Water has taken the lead on Water Stewardship with support from our partners Central Solutions and the Lean and Green Skillsnet to offer a first of its kind Certified Water Stewardship programme free of charge to large water users, supporting our business customers to lower their water consumption and reduce operating costs while also protecting the environment. We have a dedicated section on our website with further information on water stewardship https://www.water.ie/conservation/business/water-stewardship/.