PETALING JAYA: Selangor’s ability to sustain data centre (DC) investments will depend increasingly on the timely expansion of water treatment capacity, as rising domestic and industrial demand threatens to constrain new project approvals over the next three years.
BIMB Research said Air Selangor’s planned pipeline of four water treatment plant (WTP) projects would add 2,360 million litres per day (mld) of capacity by 2031, representing an increase of about 37% from its existing capacity of 6,300 mld.
According to the research house, the expansion is vital because the Selangor government has projected DC water requirements of 632 mld.
“With no further capacity until Labohan Dagang Phase 2 (200 mld) in 2029, organic demand growth of about 3% a year absorbs most of the new headroom within a year.
“Under our assumptions, the system can sustain only 60 mld of incremental DC demand across 2027 to 2029 while maintaining a 15% reserve margin, or about 10% of the projected 632 mld requirement,” it said in a report.
BIMB Research noted that the system’s reserve margin had declined from 17.86% in 2025 to 16.23% in August 2026, moving closer to the 15% minimum benchmark set by the National Water Services Commission.
Rasau WTP Stage 1, with a capacity of 700 mld and scheduled for completion in 2027, is expected to restore the reserve margin to about 18%.
However, the improvement may be short-lived, as organic demand absorbs much of the additional capacity.
Langat 2 has a design capacity of 1,130 mld and currently produces about 950 mld, implying 84% utilisation.
