Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says
The UK's water industry has warned that there will not be enough water to support the government's plans for datacentre growth, calling ministers' AI expansion strategy "fatally flawed" because it fails to account for the huge cooling demands of new facilities. In a written briefing to MPs, trade body Water UK said government policies on AI growth zones, AI for science and the AI opportunities action plan make no mention of water, and that the Environment Agency's latest national water resources framework also excludes datacentre demand, despite England already facing forecast supply shortfalls.
Water UK said more than three-quarters of the UK's datacentres are in the water-stressed south and east of England, where millions of people are currently under hosepipe bans, and that further expansion there "may be impossible" without policy changes. Datacentres in England already use an estimated 6.6 million litres of drinking water daily, a figure Water UK says could nearly triple to 19.8 million litres if the government meets its goal of tripling datacentre capacity by 2030; in Slough, which has the highest concentration of datacentres, some facilities have requested up to 3 million litres a day, comparable to 3,500 homes, while building new reservoirs can take up to 15 years.
- Water UK says AI datacentre growth plans ignore water supply limits
- Datacentre water use could triple to 19.8m litres a day by 2030
- Most datacentres sit in water-stressed south and east England
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Ministers and the datacentre industry argue that Britain's AI ambitions are a strategic economic imperative, promising investment, skilled jobs and a foothold in a technology race that will shape future prosperity and security. They contend that concerns over water use are manageable through engineering solutions such as closed-loop and air-based cooling systems, recycled or non-potable water sources, and careful siting of new facilities away from water-stressed regions. On this view, planning reform should not be held hostage to worst-case assumptions when industry has strong commercial incentives to innovate its way around resource constraints, and government support now can shape more sustainable design standards for the sector as it scales.
The case against
Water companies and environmental advocates counter that Britain's water infrastructure is already dangerously stretched, with ageing pipes, rising populations and more frequent droughts leaving little margin for a new category of industrial demand. They argue it would be irresponsible to greenlight rapid datacentre expansion without first securing the water resources, planning safeguards and efficiency standards to match, since shortfalls would ultimately be borne by ordinary households, farmers and ecosystems rather than the technology firms driving demand. For them, sound long-term policy means resolving the water question before, not after, growth is locked in, so that today's AI ambitions do not become tomorrow's supply crisis.