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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Helena Horton Environment reporter

AI boom means regulator cannot predict future water shortages in England

Inside Facebook's green Lulea Data Centre in Sweden.
Inside Facebook's green Lulea datacentre in Sweden. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

The artificial intelligence boom means the Environment Agency has no idea how much water England will be short of in future decades, as datacentres do not have to report how much they are using to cool their servers.

England’s public water supply could be short by 5bn litres a day by 2055 without urgent action to future-proof resources, the government environment regulator has warned, with a shortfall of a further 1bn litres a day for farming, energy generation and powering emerging technologies.

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