UK government inexplicably tells citizens to delete old emails and pictures to save water during national drought — 'data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems'

Data center close up.

The UK government has instructed citizens to delete old emails and pictures to help conserve water, following the announcement of a "nationally significant" water shortage. However, the advice isn't up to snuff, as deleting emails and pictures should have no significant effect on water consumption, and might even make it worse for data centers that use certain types of evaporative cooling.

Guidance published Tuesday states "the current water shortfall situation in England is now defined as a 'nationally significant incident.'" Five areas of the country are officially in drought, with six more experiencing prolonged dry weather following the six driest months leading up to July since 1976. According to the report, rivers and reservoir levels continue to recede, and August isn't looking much wetter.