Where’s the water? As many areas in the UK face housepipe bans, and the summer has been exceptionally dry and hot, with three heatwaves to date, do we have enough water to cater for all those data centres that are being planned and are seen by some as a key to growth?
Well ‘no’ according to Water UK, the trade body that represents water companies in Britain and Northern Ireland. In a briefing to MPs it writes that government forecasts were “fatally flawed” and “explicitly exclude” data centres. It wrote that the government “makes not a single mention of water” in its policy for delivering AI growth zones, its AI for science strategy or its AI opportunities action plan.
The report continues, “this problem is growing yet the government’s planning for artificial intelligence appears to assume the country will have sufficient supplies of water. The Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary’s policy for “Delivering AI Growth Zones” is dedicated to accelerating grid connections and bringing down energy prices. Nor does its AI Opportunities Action Plan. There appears to be an assumption that the country will always have enough water for its economic needs. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Right now, houses are being blocked and businesses are unable to expand for no other reason than a lack of water. The situation is so bad that, solely due to a lack of water, the Environment Agency objected to a cancer hospital being built in Cambridge. Water supplies are so low that it has forced a moratorium on business expansion in East Anglia and parts of Essex. A lack of water is the only thing stopping development in parts of Sussex, Suffolk and Lincolnshire. The problem is spreading.
“Despite this worsening position, the government forces water companies to plan on the basis that businesses will need less and less water. Worse, companies are forced to build new water infrastructure with very little headroom between what is needed and running out. Headroom is only 2% in many parts of the country”.
“If government wants to achieve its data centre capacity ambitions, it must act now. Short of radical changes, including the urgent funding of new infrastructure and granting highly accelerated planning approval, it is almost certain that the country’s needs for data centres will be thwarted”.
The Guardian reports a government spokesperson said: “The environment and sustainable development must go hand-in-hand and we will protect our water supply while unlocking growth, including looking at alternatives or ways to minimise impact on supplies and output of wastewater from data centres. We are also taking decisive measures to secure water supplies and meet higher demand, including record levels of infrastructure investment and building nine new reservoirs”.