Water UK: AI Data Centre Plans Ignore Water Sources
Water UK argues that the British government’s ambition to triple data centre capacity by 2030 overlooks a crucial aspect: water consumption.
According to the trade body representing England’s water companies, the government’s growth agenda doesn’t account for the significant water needs of these facilities. Data centres in England currently consume approximately 6.6 million litres of drinking water daily, and this is projected to surge to 19.8 million litres if capacity triples.
Individual data centre sites already demand substantial amounts of water, with some proposals requesting up to 3 million litres per day, equivalent to the daily consumption of 3,500 homes in the Affinity Water region.
The concentration of these demands is a concern, as around 75% of UK data centres are located in water-stressed areas in the south and east of England. This region already experiences a 220 million litre daily shortfall between actual usage and predicted supply before new infrastructure is even complete. With water resources becoming tighter, Water UK claims that ministers have little power to restrict water usage at data centres due to their designation as critical national infrastructure.
The key issue for Water UK is the lack of planning and consideration for data centre water consumption. These facilities are excluded from the Environment Agency’s national water resources framework, and the government’s AI growth zone policy omits any mention of water.
Water UK’s CEO, David Henderson, frames the challenge as a planning bottleneck rather than a shortage of rainfall, emphasizing the need to build new reservoirs more efficiently while addressing the water needs for the projected 1.5 million new homes.