Batam residents protest as data centres grow and their taps run dry

What happened

Protesters, many of them women from the village of Bakau Serip, carried empty water jugs and blocked workers from entering, it reported. Hundreds of people in Batam, an Indonesian island near Singapore, have protested outside a data centre (a building full of computers that runs online services) park.

They say their homes have had no running water for months while the facilities have kept their servers cool, the BBC reported. Government and policy Batam residents protest as data centres grow and their taps run dry Officials on the Indonesian island blame a long drought, and have told data centre firms to build desalination plants.

October 13, 2026 - 11:56 am Hundreds of people in Batam, an Indonesian island near Singapore, have protested outside a data centre park. They say their homes have had no running water for months while the facilities have kept their servers cool, the BBC reported .

The protest took place on October 5 at the gate of Nongsa Digital Park, according to environmental news site Mongabay Indonesia . Residents now rely on tanker trucks, she said, and some pay for drums of water that last a single day. BP Batam, the agency that runs trade and industry on the island, denies that household water is being sent to data centres.