Chile's drive to become Latin America's next technology hub is facing backlash as datacentres consume billions of litres of water annually, exacerbating a severe drought that has persisted for over 15 years. In Quilicura, on the northern outskirts of Santiago, the 468.4-hectare wetland has dried up, with activists linking the decline to the concentration of datacentres in the area.
Rodrigo Vallejos, a law student who investigated the issue alongside the group Resistencia Socioambiental de Quilicura, estimates that the largest datacentres in Quilicura—operated by Ascenty, Google, Microsoft and Sonda—consume 1.5 billion litres of water each year. Google's facilities alone hold water rights allowing extraction of 50 litres per second, roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 8,500 Chilean households.
Chile currently has 33 datacentres operating, with 34 more planned. The boom began in 2015 when Google opened its first and largest server room in Latin America in Quilicura. While companies defend their water use, residents highlight minimal job creation, high power consumption and failed environmental offsets.
Experts warn that the environmental costs could be high without stronger regulation. Nicolás Jara, a researcher at Federico Santa María Technical University, notes that datacentres for AI often use up to 10 times more water than those for storage. Climatologist Pablo Sarricolea from the University of Chile says projections for Quilicura indicate a sharp decline in water availability by 2070, with annual precipitation decreasing significantly and average temperatures rising.
Sarricolea suggests relocating datacentres to southern Chile, which is comparatively water-rich, rather than placing them in areas where water resources are already scarce. The expansion is part of a national plan launched under former president Gabriel Boric to position Chile as a technological hub for Latin America.
