AI Data Centers and Groundwater Depletion in Urban Areas: The Need for a Sustainable Regulatory Framework in India

Abstract

India races ahead to build its artificial intelligence (AI) future; however, water is fast becoming an area where there will be bills to pay. In this paper, the impact of water consumption by AI data centers, which are increasingly being located in metros such as Chennai, Mumbai, and Bengaluru experiencing water shortages, is analyzed to understand why India's existing constitutionally recognized right to clean water, centralized Groundwater Authority, and leading IndiaAI mission does not seem to include any provision for regulating water usage by data centers. Applying the doctrinal legal method based on empirical data on water consumption, urban groundwater pressure points, and a comparative review of the European Union, Chinese, and American policy frameworks, the paper reveals the lack of provisions concerning data center water usage in India's otherwise stringent environmental laws regulating pollution and agricultural exploitation of groundwater but not the evaporative loss by cooling. The main argument put forth in this paper is that India's current strategy of voluntary guidelines on energy efficiency and perfect power usage effectiveness (PUE) is unsustainable.