Pakistan’s aquifers in the AI era

Pakistan has taken a bold step toward embracing the digital economy by allocating 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centres and Bitcoin mining.

Announced by the Ministry of Finance, this policy aims to attract foreign investment and initiate Pakistan’s digital transformation grand plan. While the initiative could become a catalyst for economic revitalisation, it comes with a silent, yet serious, cost: water.

Conventional data centres are notoriously thirsty. Whether it’s cooling powerful processors running large language models or sustaining backup power systems, these digital behemoths consume vast quantities of fresh water.

Pakistan’s water situation is dire. With per capita water availability dropping well below the global scarcity threshold of 1,000 cubic meters and storage capacity barely enough for 30 days, the country is already navigating a water crisis. Over-reliance on groundwater (70 per cent of drinking, 60 per cent of irrigation, and nearly 100 per cent of industrial use), inefficient irrigation practices, and vulnerability to climate change have further compounded the crisis. The Indus Basin aquifer, among the most overdrawn globally, continues to deplete at alarming rates.

The issue drew fresh attention recently when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared that a single AI query may consume up to 500 millilitres of water. When scaled to millions of queries, this adds up to a massive water footprint. In a country like Paki