DecisionEuropeFarciennesWallonia
Wallonia refused Google's request to pump Sambre water for its Farciennes data centre; campus must stay air-cooled
Walloon infrastructure minister François Desquesnes refused Google's request to pump up to 600 m³ an hour from the Sambre to cool a merged, larger second building at its Farciennes (Écopôle) campus, citing drought risk and higher-priority uses including cooling at the Tihange nuclear plant, after an appeal by citizen groups (L'Avenir, 7 Oct). The refusal came this summer; its exact date is unchecked. Google says it is reviewing the decision and can appeal to the Conseil d'État within 60 days of notification (L'Avenir). Canopea (5 Oct) reports the site must now use air cooling, and that Google has also filed for two more hyperscale buildings at Saint-Ghislain and one larger building at Feluy.
Why it matters. A first water-based limit on a hyperscale campus in Belgium, where Elia already caps data-centre grid allocation: the constraint here is water, not power. It shows how a regional permit can reshape a design that is already under way.
Our data addsOur restrictions tracker lists Elia's capped data-centre grid category (from 5 Sep 2025) but no water measure for Belgium. /europe →
Sources: L'Avenir, 7 October 2026 · Canopea, 5 October 2026
Next: Google's decision on a Conseil d'État appeal (60 days from notification; date unchecked); Saint-Ghislain public inquiry