Member of Parliament Ivo Mantel of JA21 has requested a debate in the Provincial Council for today. He is concerned about water use and the discharge of cooling water from data centers. Political reporter Maarten Edelenbosch answers four questions.
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Why are there concerns?
“The reason is an article in the Telegraph. The newspaper wrote about a survey by the province of water consumption by data centers, presented in September. This shows that a lot of drinking water is used to cool the buildings and that it is mixed with chemicals. That is then discharged again. In addition, during an online meeting with officials, there were concerns about water shortages in extreme weather conditions. ”
Why has there been a fuss months later?
“That’s because the investigation report only after publication in the newspaper, recently public is made. It digital consultation has been online since November. Not on the province’s website, but only on YouTube. And then you should actually just know that this meeting had taken place at all, and could be found on YouTube. So basically it was invisible. According to Commissioner Cees Loggen, the study has not been published because it did not provide enough information to draw conclusions. ”
Was that really the reason?
“It is true that data was missing. That was not so much due to the research, but to some data centers that did not want to provide any or only partial information. For example, the report stated that data centers also asked questions as’ annoying ‘and’ difficult There was also fear of ‘even more rules’ and ‘more negative reports in the media.’ When you read this report and hear the explanation, you wonder why additional research was not immediately carried out to gain more insight. According to the province, work is being done on a data center strategy where things like this should be clear from now on. “
What does JA21 want to achieve with a debate?
In answers to written questions from the CDA, PVV, VVD and the Christian Union has informed the province that residents have priority over drinking water and that water company PWN is obliged to supply sufficient water. Also, according to the Hollands Noorderkwartier Water Board, no chemicals are added to the cooling water and discharged. But in two cases it is about salt, and the data centers comply with the rules. Still, JA21 member of parliament Ivo Mantel has his doubts. Especially now that summer is approaching and possibly also water shortages. Moreover, he wants to know whether the province really has all the information and he finds it resentful that the States members were only informed about the investigation after all the fuss in the media. “
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Response of JA21 Member of Parliament Ivo Mantel
We are worried. Especially if it stays warm for a long time this summer. We would think it would be special if residents were allowed to use less water, but the data centers had plenty of water. The report states that they find the questions annoying and difficult. And that not all information has been supplied. When I read that, I want to make sure that everything is really known to the province. There are farmers around the data centers. They should not sprinkle their products, which we then eat, with contaminated water.
Plus, we want to know why we only got the report a few days ago. They can say that it was not representative and therefore has not been made public, but we can decide for ourselves what we want or don’t want.
Let me be clear: we are not necessarily against data centers. We all use data. But there must be a healthy balance between the benefits and the burdens.
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