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

Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’

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.