The government has built sufficient facilities to supply water for enterprises in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park for short, medium and long-term demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry’s remarks came after Chinese-language newspaper the United Daily News reported that the progress of Google Inc’s US$300 million data center expansion plan in the industrial park was delayed due to lack of water supply.
Google reportedly requested to increase the water supply from 1,000 tonnes of water per day to a daily supply of 6,000 tonnes to use the water to lower the temperature of the operating servers in the data center, with the demand hitting a hurdle due to lack of water in Changhua County, the report said.
The ministry dismissed the report, saying that the water supply is sufficient for Google and other companies in the industrial park.
The ministry’s Water Resources Agency said that although Google requested a daily supply of 6,000 tonnes of water, the company only uses 700 tonnes of water per day.
Even if the company uses 6,000 tonnes of water, the government would have an adequate supply for the company, the agency said.
“Google plans to expand its data center by constructing three more buildings in the industrial park. The progress is on schedule, with the third building to be completed before the end of this year,” the ministry’s Industrial Development Bureau said.
Google responded to the report, saying that its investment plans in Taiwan have not changed.
“One of the things we have always focused on is building and growing in a fashion that minimizes our impact on the environment, so we continue to work closely with the government and partners here in Taiwan to find ways to use more sustainable resources for our operations,” Google said in a statement.
Taiwan Water Corp (台灣水公司) said it supplies a total of 19,000 tonnes of water to the entire industrial park, and the companies there use less than 10,000 tonnes of water per day.
The state-run company said it is building a water purification plant in Changhua County, which could purify 50,000 tonnes of water per day when it becomes operational.
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