UK Water Association Warns of Strain on Supply from Data Center Growth
The UK water industry body, Water UK, has warned the government that current policies do not adequately plan for the significant increase in water demand driven by data center expansion.
The UK's water industry body, Water UK, has issued a warning to the government regarding the escalating water demand from the expansion of data centers. The organization states that current government policies have not sufficiently accounted for this significant future water requirement.
Currently, data centers in the UK consume an estimated 6.6 million liters of water per day, equivalent to the daily usage of 20,000 households. If the number of data centers triples in the future, the country's water infrastructure will need to supply an additional 40,000 households' worth of water.
The issue is compounded by peak demand, where data centers can require up to 14 million liters per day during hot summer months. Factoring this in alongside the government's expansion targets, the UK would need to supply 42 million liters daily to data centers by 2030, making the construction of large water storage facilities urgent.
Water UK has also criticized the government for requiring water companies to plan based on an assumption that future water demand will decrease. This planning premise overlooks the impact of rapid growth in data centers fueled by the AI era.
The association suggests that the government should permit data center developers to construct new water sources to alleviate future pressure. Concurrently, it proposes implementing stricter building standards to encourage companies to conserve water more effectively.