Water UK states that the proposed AI data centers overlook the origins of the water supply.

      Britain aims to triple its data centre capacity by 2030, but the trade organization representing the nation’s water companies has informed ministers that there isn't sufficient water to sustain them. Water UK, which advocates for England’s water suppliers, told MPs this week that the government's growth agenda does not adequately consider the water consumption of these facilities.

      Currently, data centres are largely overlooked in the frameworks that regulate water usage in England, even as notable projects like Stargate UK face delays due to costs and newer sites encounter their own grid issues. Presently, data centres in England consume approximately 6.6 million litres of drinking water daily, and Water UK predicts this figure could rise to 19.8 million litres if the capacity increases as planned.

      Individual sites already demand more water than their neighboring establishments; for instance, in the Affinity Water region, some proposed centres have requested up to 3 million litres a day, equivalent to the daily consumption of about 3,500 homes. The pressure is not distributed evenly, as around 125 data centres are proposed or under construction solely within Affinity Water’s area, which encompasses Slough and its dense concentration of server facilities. Moreover, over three-quarters of the UK's data centres are situated in the water-stressed southern and eastern regions of England.

      This area already consumes around 220 million litres a day beyond what water companies had anticipated, even before most of the planned infrastructure is established. In some localities, the gap between what suppliers can provide and what customers currently use has shrunk to about 2%.

      Since ministers have classified data centres as critical national infrastructure, water companies claim they have limited ability to reduce supply when resources become scarce. During the hosepipe bans that affected the south and east this summer, the limitations predominantly impacted households rather than data centres, which, under current regulations, utilize drinking-quality supplies.

      Water UK’s main issue is that none of these factors have been considered. Data centres are not included in the Environment Agency’s national water resources framework, and this body informed MPs that the government's AI growth zone policy does not address water issues whatsoever. “There seems to be an assumption that the country will always have sufficient water for its economic requirements,” the briefing noted. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

      David Henderson, the chief executive of Water UK, framed the issue as a planning constraint rather than a lack of rainfall. "We are desperate to ensure enough water for new housing," he stated, "but we are hindered by a regulatory system that delays the construction of new reservoirs." According to the body’s own data, the current supply can only meet the needs of approximately 420,000 of the 1.5 million homes the government aims to build.

      This situation paints a picture of a growing disparity between England’s available water resources and its projected needs. A House of Lords report from May predicted a public water deficit of about 5 billion litres a day by the mid-century unless interventions are made, although roughly 60% of that could be mitigated through leak repairs and reduced demand. These projections do not adequately take into account the expansion of data centres, which is the gap that Water UK seeks to highlight.

      Water UK is advocating for the inclusion of data centre demands in national planning frameworks and for expedited approval of reservoirs and other major water initiatives. The industry is also exploring engineering solutions such as closed-loop and air-based cooling systems that consume significantly less water than traditional evaporative methods, with some operators attempting to recycle waste heat rather than waste it.

      The government has identified nine new reservoirs for development and states that its AI growth zones are positioned where energy and water resources are already available. A national policy statement intended to outline the guidelines for this expansion was due in February but has yet to be released. Until this occurs, the country is committing to data centres without having clarified the source of the necessary water.