Naivasha, Kenya – For communities living around Naivasha, water is not an abstract resource. It sustains families, livestock, farms and schools.
That reality has taken on new significance after plans for a major Microsoft-G۴۲ data centre in Olkaria, near Lake Naivasha, stalled in May ۲۰۲۶ over concerns about available power capacity.
Microsoft and United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence company G۴۲ announced the project in ۲۰۲۴ as part of a $۱bn digital investment package for Kenya. The proposed facility was to run on geothermal energy and eventually scale to as much as ۱ gigawatt of capacity.
The uncertainty has also prompted questions about what another major industrial user could mean for water in a region where residents already report shortages.
Microsoft and G۴۲ said the proposed data centre campus would run entirely on renewable geothermal energy and incorporate water conservation technology. The companies did not disclose a project-specific water consumption figure in their ۲۰۲۴ announcement.
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) communications director Frank David Ochieng told Al Jazeera that the data centre remains at the design stage and that he could not comment further until the project is ready to proceed.
For residents like Musa Olorkedienye, who spoke to Al Jazeera, water scarcity is already a daily concern. He says communities around Olkaria have seen changes in access to water, including the loss of reliable piped supplies that residents previously received from KenGen.
“Currently, we are relying on water vendors to get water, our animals are walking for kilometres, and we fear things could get worse as demand for water rises,” Olorkedienye says.
Pastoralist Isaac Leshishi, who also spoke to Al Jazeera, says increasingly harsh weather is adding to the pressure.
Why Olkaria?
The choice of Olkaria was closely tied to energy. The area is home to Kenya’s major geothermal operations, making it an attractive location for a power-intensive facility.
KenGen operates the Olkaria geothermal complex, while Microsoft and G۴۲ planned to power the proposed data centre entirely with geothermal energy.
A lake under pressure
Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya’s Rift Valley whose catchment supports agriculture, tourism, livestock and domestic water use. Its basin also hosts geothermal development and other economic activity.
Grace Kimani, a patrol leader with Lake Naivasha and Oloiden, told Al Jazeera that the reservoir is under growing pressure from population growth, agriculture, water abstraction, climate variability, pollution and ecosystem degradation.
“The planned Microsoft-G۴۲ data centre in Olkaria could bring jobs and investment, but its water demand raises concerns about adding pressure to already competing needs, particularly during dry periods,” she said.
Kimani said there is limited public information about the project’s expected water demand, source and cooling technology. She said transparency and an assessment of its cumulative impact on water resources would be important.
She also called for water-efficient or water-free cooling, water recycling and the use of treated wastewater, as well as sustainable abstraction limits and community involvement in monitoring.
Silas Wanjala of the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association, who spoke to Al Jazeera, said the region is heavily dependent on groundwater and that declining water flows are adding to the pressure.
“These industries, especially EcoCloud, which deal with data, will consume a lot of water at a time when rivers are drying, and demand for water is on the rise,” Wanjala said.
Olkaria EcoCloud Data Centre is a local partner in the G۴۲-led development. In ۲۰۲۴, the Kenya News Agency reported that G۴۲, Microsoft and EcoCloud signed a letter of intent for the wider data-centre initiative, with EcoCloud described as a local partner that had previously signed a memorandum of understanding with G۴۲.
Wanjala points to past fluctuations in Lake Naivasha as a warning.
“This lake in ۲۰۱۰ nearly dried up due to over-abstraction, and this could be repeated due to high demand for water by these investors in Olkaria,” he says.
His concern comes against a wider backdrop of water scarcity in Kenya. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations says Kenya has about ۵۲۷ cubic metres (۵۲۷,۰۰۰ litres) of freshwater available per person, below the ۱,۰۰۰-cubic-metre threshold for water scarcity, and estimates availability could fall to about ۴۷۵ cubic metres per person by ۲۰۳۰.
The figures do not show what effect the proposed data centre would have on Lake Naivasha. They provide context, however, for why the prospect of another major water user is drawing scrutiny in a region where demand is already high.
How much water would it use?
The amount of water the proposed Microsoft-G۴۲ facility itself would require remains unclear.
The project announcement provides no projected consumption figure.
Existing industrial use offers some context.
A KenGen environmental and social impact assessment records that ۱۹۵,۱۶۵ cubic metres of water were abstracted from Lake Naivasha in July ۲۰۲۳ for domestic and commercial uses at Olkaria and for operations and domestic use at Eburru.
Of that total, ۱۵۳,۹۱۸ cubic metres were used for commercial operations at Olkaria. The assessment records the abstraction as within Water Resources Authority (WRA) permitted levels.
Those figures relate to existing KenGen operations, not the proposed data centre.
For farmer Eskimos Kobia, who spoke to Al Jazeera, the potential competition extends beyond households and livestock. He says farmers, pastoralists, schools and investors will all face greater pressure as demand increases.
Kimani said climate variability has also led to fluctuations in lake levels, with periods of flooding followed by prolonged dry conditions.
“Water quality is affected by agricultural run-off, untreated wastewater in some areas and invasive species,” she says.
Investment versus local concerns
Not everyone in Naivasha opposes the investment.
Absolom Mukhuusi of the Naivasha Professional Association, who spoke to Al Jazeera, says the technology sector could bring jobs, infrastructure and new businesses to the area. But he says economic benefits should not come at the expense of local communities.
“Even as we welcome the investors, our biggest fear is what happens to our water bodies and communities as water is diverted to Olkaria for the heavy users,” he says.
Could technology help?
Geologist Kenyatta Otieno, who spoke to Al Jazeera, sees another potential benefit.
He recalls the pressure large flower farms once placed on the lake’s ecosystem, saying many have since left or scaled back their operations.
Otieno says the proposed centre would have included a resource centre to monitor lake levels and weather patterns. Such monitoring, he says, could help identify the highest water level over time and guide riparian land zoning.
“The centre being built with water conservation in mind would be futuristic as Naivasha is generally a water-scarce area. It would be a model for future development,” Otieno said.
Kenya already has regulators responsible for managing competing demands. The WRA regulates water abstraction and issues water-use permits, while the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) oversees environmental impact assessments under the country’s environmental regulatory framework.
Attempts by Al Jazeera to obtain comments from WRA and NEMA officials were unsuccessful. Efforts to reach Microsoft-G۴۲ officials and Kenyan government officials for comment on the project’s status and water requirements were also unsuccessful.
For now, the project’s eventual scale, design and water requirements remain unclear, according to KenGen.
“We are now competing with the multibillion [-dollar] companies for water, and we fear that we shall be the losers in the long run,” Leshishi said.
