Water UK warns there’s not enough water for datacentre plans

The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres. England faces 5bn litre a day shortfall for public water supplies. A trillion litres of water a year lost to leaks. Widespread hosepipe bans. No national grid for water. Poor infrastructure. No national plan.

I do think the water thing with AI gets overplayed compared to the technology's other environmental and social harms, but AI boosters like to pretend it's entirely invented. The potable water industry in the UK - no tree huggers here - makes it clear than no, this is a very real issue.

There's not enough water to water the fucking hydrangeas for goodness sake www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK Govt & Envt Agency water forecasts exclude datacentre usage About 125 datacentres are proposed/under construction in one region which is already subject to a hosepipe ban Current water deficits are being met by “accepting a greater risk of environmental harm" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Asking households to abide by hosepipe bans while data centres draw millions of litres of drinking water daily is unviable. The UK government must mandate non-potable or dry cooling for AI infrastructure—tech growth cannot come at the expense of basic water security.

Climate change doesn’t respect borders. While UK sweats through potential 41°C, soils erode, water sources dry, and forests burn globally. We’re hitting tipping points where systems flip and can’t recover. The cost of inaction? Trillions in damages — up to 10% global GDP loss at 3°C warming.

'The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres, the water industry has said in stark criticism of the government’s AI growth plans.' 1/2

As hosepipe bans are issued across the country, my reporting today reveals that data centres are estimated to be using 6.6 million litres of drinking water every single day! Water UK said this is a “genuine failing of government”. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

People on this website locked into a worldview that water use by AI data centers was a nonissue and now of course UK water utilities themselves are saying "this government plan to build data centers is untenable from a water supply standpoint." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not enough #water for UK’s datacentre plans, says trade body - Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means #AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’ www.theguardian.com/environment/...

'Water UK, the trade body that represents water companies in Britain and Northern Ireland, said... the government’s water forecasts were “fatally flawed” and “explicitly exclude” datacentres' committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide... #R4Today

Water UK said in a briefing to MPs that the government’s water forecasts were “fatally flawed” and “explicitly exclude” datacentres. “There appears to be an assumption that the country will always have enough water for its economic needs. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Water bosses have just been given a rise and bonuses. Bills will go up AGAIN, to fund this, and maybe fund the building of reservoirs. www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...

We're told there isn't enough water for gardens & for anything longer than v short showers, so I'm mystified where they think they're finding the billions of litres needed for data centres www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Water failure now top threat to UK – where’s the institutional panic? www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...