Britain isn't considering datacenters' thirst for water in its 'AI superpower' ambitions

ON-PREM

Grand compute push could end up as dry as England's reservoirs unless ministers act fast

The UK government's blueprint for turning Britain into an AI superpower largely ignore the water datacenters need, prompting warnings that these facilities could end up competing with homes and businesses for supply.

The warning comes as parts of southern, central, and eastern England move closer to drought, putting the pressure on water availability firmly on the agenda.

MPs were told earlier this year that official forecasts of England's future water needs excluded datacenters, despite government efforts to encourage more of them to power AI development.

In written evidence to a parliamentary committee, Water UK, the trade association for Britain's water industry, said the government's policies for delivering AI Growth Zones under the AI Opportunities Action Plan appear to assume the country will have ample supplies of H₂O.

This, Water UK argues, limits the investment that water companies can plan for, including new reservoirs, leaving future supply constrained by forecasts that it says are already too low.

The submission claims some housing projects are already being blocked and businesses barred from expanding because water isn't available. Water UK says supply is so constrained that the Environment Agency has effectively imposed a moratorium on business expansion in East Anglia and parts of Essex.

Water UK is calling for new supply infrastructure to be fast-tracked and abstraction limits to be reviewed. It also wants operators to cover the infrastructure costs their facilities create, minimum efficiency standards for server farms, and requirements to use non-potable water wherever possible.

Current economics push operators toward cooling methods that save energy rather than water. Where water is relatively cheap compared to energy, operators favour using more of it to use less power, as The Register previously detailed. UK energy prices are among the highest in the developed world.

The submission says global datcenter water use is expected to more than double between 2025 and 2050, with services-based economies like the UK likely to account for a disproportionate share of that growth. T

he UK datacenter pipeline is almost double that of the next-largest country in Europe, with ambitions to treble capacity by 2030.

A government report [PDF] says most of the UK's current datacenter capacity is sited in and around London, with more than 1,000 MW located there. Europe's largest datacenter cluster is reportedly in Slough, Berkshire, home to as many as 35 facilities.

The same report notes UK datacenter operators aren't required to report water use, so no official consumption figures exist, though the Water Research Centre estimates English facilities use almost 1.9 billion liters a year.

According to PublicTechnology, the Government Digital Sustainability Alliance warned last year that AI is driving a significant, yet often underestimated, rise in water consumption, threatening water security both globally and in the UK

A Water UK spokesperson told The Register: "We desperately want to supply the water that datacenters need. That's impossible because the UK government explicitly excludes them from its water planning framework for England."

Water companies have been given approval to build ten reservoirs, but they will take years to complete, the spokesperson added.

"We need planning hurdles cleared and water efficiency standards for datacenters introduced. Major businesses should pay for the water infrastructure they need so that the costs don't fall onto households."

The Register also asked the relevant government department for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication. ®