All 218 people detained after a protest at a Microsoft data-centre construction site in Amsterdam have been released. New estimates on Germany’s data-centre sector meanwhile suggest that water used for cooling could rise to as much as 27 billion litres a year by 2030.
The protest took place on Friday, 6 November, at Plimsollweg in Amsterdam-West. The groups Geef Tegengas and Fossielvrij were involved. Police said some demonstrators carried tools intended to help them enter the site. Protesters moved onto the construction area, where damage was reported. Items believed to have come from the site were found with some of those detained.
The data-centre operator filed complaints over trespass, property damage and burglary. One police officer was slightly injured during the action. All 218 detainees were released on Saturday, 7 November. One person had spent the night in a police cell before being released during the day.
A new assessment of data-centre water use in Germany puts the amount used for cooling at about 13 billion litres in 2025. That is equivalent to the annual drinking-water needs of roughly 275,000 people. The figure could rise to as much as 27 billion litres a year by 2030.
A new data centre with 100 megawatts of IT connection capacity could use between 200 million and 930 million litres of water annually, depending on its cooling technology. Reporting gaps remain: 484 of roughly 1,200 operators required to submit data provided information for 2025, while only 139 of 319 publicly available datasets were considered plausible.
Water use varies substantially with the cooling system. Closed-loop systems can avoid direct water consumption, and the potential local effects depend on a facility’s location, its technology and the availability of regional water resources. The estimates do not indicate a new direct charge for households.
