“Datacentre developments are crowding out opportunities for housing and job-rich industries across Sydney, a New South Wales inquiry has heard, with one local council reporting a rise in blackouts linked to the industry’s expansion.”

“Several Sydney councils, all facing an influx of datacentre developments, have raised concerns about the health, environmental and amenity impacts on their local communities in submissions to the state’s datacentre inquiry.”

“Added pressure on local water supplies from datacentres was also delaying some already approved housing projects, council’s submission revealed, 'because Sydney Water has been unable to meet the required water supply capacity'.”

“Penrith city council urged the state government to pause further approvals until 'utility servicing (water and power) impacts for NSW in both the short and long term are fully understood'.”

“The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils said the cumulative impact of noise, heat and emissions from datacentre clusters was rarely considered in approvals for individual projects.”

“Jess Miller, the deputy lord mayor for the City of Sydney, said if every datacentre proposed in the NSW planning portal was built, they would require about 4.4 gigawatts of power – equivalent to the electricity needs of 10m households – and consume up to 25% of the city’s drinking water by 2035.”

“The additional water use required was estimated at 250m litres per day by 2035, equivalent to the total production capacity of the Sydney Desalination Plant. A submission from the desalination plant said it could double capacity to help alleviate water supply risks.”