The UK government's plans to make Britain an "AI superpower" fail to account for the huge amounts of water datacentres consume, according to trade body Water UK, raising fears that server farms will end up competing with households and businesses for scarce supplies. The concern is especially pressing as parts of southern, central and eastern England edge closer to drought, and MPs have already been told that official forecasts of England's future water needs exclude datacentres entirely, despite ministers actively encouraging more of them to be built to support AI development.

In written evidence to a parliamentary committee, Water UK said this omission from the AI Opportunities Action Plan limits how much water companies can invest in new infrastructure, such as reservoirs, and warned that some housing projects and business expansions are already being blocked because water isn't available, including an effective moratorium on business growth in East Anglia and parts of Essex. It is calling for fast-tracked supply infrastructure, minimum efficiency standards for datacentres, and greater use of non-potable water. The UK's datacentre pipeline is nearly double that of any other European country, with plans to treble capacity by 2030, yet operators face no obligation to report water use; the Water Research Centre estimates English facilities already consume almost 1.9 billion litres a year, with global datacentre water use projected to more than double between 2025 and 2050.