Reuters has learned about the protests against Google's largest project in India

Google's $15 billion data center, the largest investment in India in history, has faced protests from environmentalists over the threat to the region's water supply and the nearby protected area. This was reported by the Reuters news agency on August 6.

"Development should not come at the expense of people's livelihoods," said Raja Rama Mohan Roy, founder of Green Visakha, a non—profit organization that gathers activists to protest in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Several lawsuits have been filed against the data center construction project in the Andhra Pradesh Supreme Court and the Environmental Court of India. A number of organizations are demanding that the project be closed due to the threat of depletion of water resources in the region, which is already suffering from a shortage of water supply, as well as due to noise negatively affecting the Kambalakonda Nature Reserve located next to the construction site.

Activists claim that the government approved the project without properly assessing the impact on the local ecosystem. As noted by Reuters, the nearby city of Visakhapatnam, with a population of 2.5 million people, requires the supply of 480 million liters of water per day, but receives only 410 million liters, which is why water rationing is widespread there. Activists fear the situation will worsen, as modern data centers require large amounts of water for cooling.

The authorities of the Indian state reject the statements of the activists, saying that the construction will not have an impact on the region's water supply. For its part, Google announced the use of "advanced air cooling systems to protect vital local water resources" in the project and promised to take sound insulation measures.

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