Johor: Johor made history with its first large-scale water reclamation plant dedicated for data centre operations located in Ulu Tiram here.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Bridge Data Centres (BDC) president Eric Fan said the project, which began about 10 months ago, includes a full pipeline system to transport municipal wastewater directly to its treatment facilities. The plant treats wastewater to high-grade pure water, specifically for the cooling process of data centres. Fan described the project as a benchmark for the Malaysian government and the data centre sector, addressing water constraint issues for the industry.

During a site visit to the Water Reclamation Plant in Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, along with Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi and Johor Investment, Trade, Consumer Affairs and Human Resources Committee chairman Lee Ting Han, were present. Fan highlighted that the facility is the first of its kind in Malaysia, built specifically for data centre cooling purposes.

The project includes pipeline construction that runs directly to the Pelangi Indah Sewage Treatment Plant. The initiative promotes sustainability by using treated effluent, which would otherwise be discharged, instead of sourcing water from rivers. The plant will supply four million litres per day of treated effluent from Indah Water Konsortium’s JB-Pelangi Sewage Treatment Plant to the BDC water reclamation plant.

Johor Special Water Sdn Bhd (JSW) will oversee the delivery of the treated effluent and coordinate with local authorities to obtain all necessary approvals. The reclaimed water will be used in BDC’s cooling operations.