Why Your AI Plans Need a Water Question
You may not operate a data centre, but your business increasingly depends on one. Every cloud accounting system, AI assistant, customer relationship platform, online store, and automated report runs on computing infrastructure somewhere. As you add more digital tools, you are also joining a wider conversation about the resources those tools require.
A recent TechCrunch report used a deliberately silly question—whether human urine could cool data centres—to explain a serious issue: computing facilities need large quantities of water, and operators are increasingly looking at recycled or alternative water sources instead of relying entirely on drinking-water supplies. The joke is not a practical instruction. It is a reminder that digital growth still has physical consequences.
TL;DR: Data-centre cooling depends on water, electricity, and local infrastructure. For your SME, this means choosing technology providers thoughtfully, asking sensible sustainability questions, and avoiding wasteful automation that creates activity without business value.
You do not need to become a water engineer. You do need to understand what responsible digital operations look like as AI becomes part of everyday work.
What This Means
Computer servers generate heat while processing information. Data centres use cooling systems to keep equipment within safe operating conditions. One common approach is evaporative cooling, where water helps remove heat as it evaporates. Other facilities use air cooling, closed-loop liquid cooling, or combinations of several systems.
The water used for cooling does not have to come from the same supply used for drinking, cooking, and washing. Recycled water can be produced by treating wastewater through processes such as membrane treatment, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection. The treated water can then be used for industrial purposes, including cooling.
That distinction matters. The real idea behind the viral campaign was not collecting urine directly. Wastewater contains urine along with many other materials, and it must go through proper treatment before it becomes suitable for industrial use. Untreated urine would introduce salts, urea, bacteria, and organic matter that could cause deposits, cleaning problems, and equipment damage.
The practical lesson is simple: sustainable technology depends on the infrastructure behind it, not just the software you can see.
The TechCrunch report highlighted Loudoun County, Virginia, where data centres used about 200 million gallons of recycled water each day in 2025. That represented 43% of the area’s daily data-centre water use, while the remaining 57% came from potable supplies, according to TechCrunch. The figures show both progress and the scale of the challenge: recycled water can reduce pressure on drinking-water supplies, but it requires treatment capacity, pipelines, planning, and cooperation with local authorities.
How This Applies to Malaysian SMEs
1. Your cloud choices have an operational footprint. If you use cloud software, you may not control the data centre’s cooling system, but you can still ask your provider where your information is hosted, what sustainability reporting is available, and whether the provider operates energy- or water-efficiency programmes. You do not need a perfect answer before adopting a useful tool. However, asking these questions helps you compare providers beyond features and convenience.
For example, a Malaysian distributor choosing between two inventory platforms could assess system reliability, data protection, support quality, and the provider’s approach to infrastructure efficiency. A business that processes thousands of automated records daily should also check whether the system can archive old information, avoid duplicate processing, and run reports only when needed.
2. Automation should remove waste, not create more digital activity. It is easy to automate every notification, duplicate every document, or ask an AI tool to regenerate similar reports repeatedly. Each action may seem small, but inefficient workflows create unnecessary processing, storage, and review work. More importantly, they distract your team.
Suppose your service company sends the same customer update through email, WhatsApp, a spreadsheet, and a project-management tool. A better workflow may create one approved record, notify the right person, and retain a clear audit trail. This improves productivity while reducing unnecessary system activity. The environmental benefit is not the only reason to simplify, but it is a useful side effect of better process design.
3. Local infrastructure matters when you expand digital operations. Malaysian SMEs often operate from shoplots, factories, offices, warehouses, or mixed-use buildings. Your own premises may not have the infrastructure required for specialised computing equipment, water recycling, or high-capacity cooling. That is one reason cloud platforms are practical: the provider manages the physical environment at scale.
If you are considering hosting servers on-site, running intensive AI models locally, or adding equipment to a warm warehouse, assess ventilation, electrical capacity, backup systems, maintenance, and heat management first. A small business should not purchase hardware simply because it appears to provide more control. In many cases, a managed service is easier to maintain and more predictable operationally.
4. Sustainability questions can improve supplier conversations. When you request proposals from software vendors, ask for clear information about data hosting, service availability, backup arrangements, data deletion, and environmental practices. You can also ask whether the provider offers usage controls, data-retention settings, and reporting that helps you identify unnecessary activity.
This is especially relevant for manufacturers, logistics firms, retailers, and professional-service companies adopting AI. A tool that analyses every historical file forever may not be better than one that processes only the records needed for a specific business decision. Good vendors should be able to explain how their systems work in plain language.
A Useful Numbers Snapshot
| Reported figure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| 200 million gallons of recycled water daily | Scale of recycled-water use by data centres in Loudoun County in 2025 |
| 43% of daily data-centre water use | Share supplied by recycled water in that area |
| 260 million gallons daily | Reported daily volume supplied by potable water in the same area |
| 57% of daily data-centre water use | Share still supplied by potable water there |
| At least US$270 million | Reported Meta commitment to wastewater infrastructure projects near data centres |
All figures in this table are reported by TechCrunch based on information from Loudoun Water and other sources; see the original report for context. Source: TechCrunch
Practical Takeaways for Your Business
- Map your digital processes: identify where you use cloud storage, AI tools, accounting systems, customer platforms, and automated messaging.
- Remove duplication: keep one reliable source for customer, stock, supplier, and job information wherever possible.
- Set retention rules: decide how long old files, recordings, drafts, and reports should remain active.
- Ask vendors about hosting: request information on data location, infrastructure efficiency, backups, and usage controls.
- Review AI activity: check whether every automated task supports a real business outcome.
- Choose managed infrastructure carefully: compare reliability, security, support, and environmental reporting before selecting a provider.
- Train your team: show employees when to use automation and when a simple manual decision is faster and clearer.
- Include sustainability in procurement: make it one consideration alongside performance, privacy, resilience, and usability.
The Bigger Picture
AI adoption is often discussed as though it happens entirely on a screen. In reality, it depends on buildings, electricity networks, cooling equipment, telecommunications, water treatment, and local planning. As demand for computing grows, communities will pay closer attention to how data centres use shared resources.
That scrutiny will affect technology suppliers and, indirectly, your business. Providers may publish more detailed environmental information. Customers may ask how your digital operations are managed. Larger companies may expect suppliers to meet sustainability requirements as part of procurement. Even when your SME is not legally required to provide extensive reporting, being able to explain your approach can strengthen trust.
The strongest response is not to avoid technology. It is to use technology deliberately. Select tools that solve defined problems, configure them properly, reduce duplicate work, and review whether they continue to deliver useful results. Responsible digital growth means considering both the visible benefit—faster service, better records, fewer errors—and the hidden infrastructure that makes it possible.
The urine joke works because it sounds absurd. The serious message beneath it is more useful: resources do not disappear just because a service is delivered through the cloud. As a Malaysian SME owner, you can respond by building cleaner processes, asking better supplier questions, and making every automated task earn its place in your operation.
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