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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Pippa Neill Environment reporter

Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says

Vapour rises from two huge cooling towers on a modern industrial estate
Cooling towers in Slough, Berkshire, which has the UK’s highest concentration of datacentres. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres, the water industry has said in stark criticism of the government’s AI growth plans.

Datacentres rely on large amounts of water to manage the heat generated by densely packed servers. Cooling towers, chillers and humidification systems make direct use of this water, with large volumes also consumed indirectly through high electrical power needs.

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