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The Lord Bishop of Oxford requested a response from the Government about plans it might have “to measure, and to regulate, the amount of energy, and water, consumed by data centres in the United Kingdom.”

Singling out the water demands of data centres, which are considered to be critical national infrastructure (CNI), he said: “The Government have a dedicated energy council, but there is, as yet, no similar provision for water, no formal record of all the current data centres or the water they use and no public criteria for assessing new proposals such as the one in Culham in Oxfordshire.

“Does the Minister agree that water demand and supply in AI growth zones is a pressing problem?

“Do the Government have any plans to establish an AI and water task force and will it have representation from local communities?”

Responding, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) minister of state Lord Vallance of Balham said the Bishop was “right that water is a very large issue for data centres, as they consume large amounts of it. There are now technologies that reduce that use, such as recirculation of water.

“The AI growth zone proposals are required to set out water use—the volume of water required, the availability of that volume, the timeline of delivery and any wider infrastructure requirements or constraints—and they must work with the water provider to do that.

“Applications must confirm the above from the relevant water supplier and include any other associated impacts. A working group on sustainability has also been set up under the AI Energy Council.”

Vallance also said: “As part of the Government’s commitment to reduce the use of the public water supply by 20% by 2037-38, Defra is examining how the efficiency of water use in data centres can be improved and the Environment Agency is working to improve the understanding of water and resilience needs.”

techUK, the trade association representing Big Tech companies, has previously found that climate breakdown and water scarcity are key risks facing data centres.

Water scarcity can affect the cooling systems needed in data centres as many of these use water to cool the machines inside the centres that can become quite hot after being used for some time.

If water supply becomes an issue, the cooling systems may not be able to run causing the digital storage facilities to rise in temperature affecting their operation.

To mitigate this risk, data centres are increasingly adopting innovative cooling designs and exploring water harvesting techniques, though these have physical space limitations.

Conservative peer warns NCE of data centres and people competing for water

Echoing the Bishop’s concerns, backbench Conservative peer Baroness McIntosh of Pickering said: “Does the Minister share my concern that data centres are being built and expanded very close to major new housing developments in areas of deep water stress?

“What is the Government’s policy to ensure that households, as well as the data centres concerned, will have sufficient drinking water and sufficient evacuation of wastewater sewage?”

Balham responded, saying: “The proposal process for AI growth zones, which is where the big data centres will be placed, started in early February and ended at the end of February.

“Over 50 proposals have come forward, each of which needs to deal specifically with water in relation to the local environment and local plans, and to plan that with the water company.”

After the debate, McIntosh told NCE: “Data centres are intensive users of both water and energy and are usually sited in areas of high population.

“In future planning scenarios, the Government must be mindful of its high usage of energy and water when considering major housing developments, especially in areas of water stress.

“Otherwise, there will be problems of competing use by both data centres and residential homes, both for supplying drinking water into the homes and treating wastewater out.

“One possible solution is to make future homes more resilient by storing rainwater for household use. The UK is unique in using drinking water in households for washing dishes and cars, where rainwater might be more appropriate.”

BBC News recently reported that residents near data centres in the state of Georgia in the US have found their drinking water declined in pressure and quality following construction of the facility.

Campaigners criticise lack of government planning for data centre-driven water stress

Foxglove describes itself as “an independent non-profit organisation that fights to make tech fair for everyone”.

Foxglove advocacy director Donald Campbell told NCE: “The Government acknowledges that water use by data centres is a ‘very large issue.’ But disappointingly, they still seem to have no plan for how to measure or manage this problem.

“Pushing for a huge ramping up of data centre construction has long been a key government priority, so it’s alarming that they still don’t know how much water data centres use now.

“Worse still, they don’t have any projection for how much they will use in future, which will likely see a vast increase resulting from the multiple hyperscale applications currently in the planning system.

“Instead of a clear picture, Parliament (again) gets the platitude that the Environment Agency is still ‘working to improve the understanding’ of data centres’ water needs.

“Ministers’ suggestions for how to deal with the vast increase of water and energy demand lean heavily on new, unproven and untested technologies – and sound alarmingly similar to the Big Tech sector’s talking points.

“The Government appears far too happy to buy whatever Big Tech is selling. We don’t need cheerleaders for the tech giants – we need ministers who will properly scrutinise their claims and stand up for the interests of the public.”

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