AI company Firmus quietly planned to tap Tasmania's farm irrigation water

Firmus Technologies, a company building artificial intelligence data centres across Tasmania, posted a statement on its website this week that it intended to draw cooling water from the state's farm irrigation system. The company then deleted the disclosure after being contacted by the ABC, saying the information had been inadvertently published as part of an internal note.

The revelation emerged from a frequently asked questions section on Firmus's website, posted alongside announcements of community drop-in sessions for its proposed Wesley Vale facility in the state's north-west. In that section, the company stated it did not plan to rely on Tasmania Water for its cooling needs, noting the utility had no connection to the site. Instead, it said the majority of water for cooling would come from rainwater captured off the roof. But the same section also indicated that discussions were underway regarding supplementary water sources from Tasmanian Irrigation, the state-owned company that supplies water to farmers across the region. After the ABC made inquiries, Firmus removed the section entirely.

Firmus is proposing three AI facilities in Tasmania: one already under construction in the Launceston suburb of St Leonards, another in Bell Bay in the north, and the Wesley Vale site in the north-west. The company has submitted a development application to Latrobe Council for Wesley Vale, though the council is still awaiting additional information before making the application public. These facilities house data centre infrastructure, advanced cooling systems, and graphics processing units that generate the computational tokens required by artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

When contacted by the ABC, Firmus said it had not intended to make the irrigation water information public. A company spokesperson stated that rainwater harvesting and on-site storage remained the primary water solution for the facility, designed to meet operational requirements. The company said discussions about supplementary water sources were separate from that primary strategy and related to resilience and contingency planning. If a connection to Tasmanian Irrigation was not available before the facility needed to operate, Firmus said it would use water carts to meet initial cooling requirements. The company also noted that its cooling systems only activate on days when temperatures exceed 26 degrees Celsius, and claimed the Wesley Vale facility at full capacity would use no more water annually than a restaurant.

Tasmanian Irrigation's legislative framework restricts water supply to agriculture and hydrogen production. Any application from industries outside those categories would require consideration by the Tasmanian government and engagement with the community, including the company's existing customers—the farmers who depend on that water. A Tasmanian Irrigation spokesperson said the company had received no formal request from Firmus and made clear that any such request would trigger a process involving government and public consultation.

Neil Grose, chief operating officer of TasFarmers, the peak farming body in the state, said it would be highly unusual for Tasmanian Irrigation to supply water to a data centre. He emphasized that irrigation water exists for irrigating farmland, and expressed concern that Firmus appeared to be planning to use that water without going through proper channels or consulting with farmers first. Grose noted that farmers need confidence in their water supply, particularly during dry seasons when availability becomes constrained. The only precedent for Tasmanian Irrigation supplying water to a non-agricultural user, he said, was the proposed Tamar Scheme, which would support both farmers and hydrogen developments in northern Tasmania. That scheme, he pointed out, had been carefully planned, passed through legislation, and involved consultation with both industry and farming representatives who agreed on the joint benefit. Wesley Vale, by contrast, had undergone no such process. Grose said TasFarmers was open to conversations with Firmus, but only if the company was prepared to invest in new water infrastructure. He suggested that such a conversation had not yet begun.