--- title: Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the... description: Water UK, the trade body representing England's water suppliers, has warned MPs that the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 fails to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from | daily.dev og:description: Water UK, the trade body representing England's water suppliers, has warned MPs that the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 fails to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/dD4dHi26H.png og:image:alt: Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Water UK, the trade body representing England's water suppliers, has warned MPs that the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 fails to account for water demand. Data centres currently use 6.6 million litres of drinking water per day in England, a figure expected to reach 19.8 million litres if expansion proceeds. Over 125 data centres are proposed or under construction in the already water-stressed south and east of England. Data centres are excluded from the Environment Agency's national water resources framework, and the government's AI growth zone policy makes no mention of water. Water UK is calling for data centre demand to be written into national planning assumptions and for faster reservoir approvals. The government has earmarked nine new reservoirs but a key national policy statement is overdue, meaning the country is committing to data centre expansion before resolving where the water will come from. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much water do UK data centres currently use per day and how much could that grow by 2030? Data centres in England currently use about 6.6 million litres of drinking water a day. Water UK projects this could rise to 19.8 million litres daily if the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 goes ahead, since data centre water demand is not currently counted in national water resource planning. _Track how AI infrastructure growth intersects with resource constraints like this on daily.dev._ ### Why can't water companies restrict data centre water use during a drought or hosepipe ban? UK data centres are classified as critical national infrastructure, which limits water companies' ability to reduce their supply when water is scarce. During hosepipe bans across southern and eastern England, restrictions applied to households while data centres continued drawing on drinking-quality water supplies, according to Water UK. _Anyone weighing AI infrastructure trade-offs can follow policy shifts like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI datacenters may gulp NYC's daily water supply at peak](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-datacenters-may-gulp-nyc-s-daily-water-supply-at-peak-klhtc8ad3) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Kevin O’Leary says data centres use less water than golf courses. The numbers are more complicated.](https://daily.dev/posts/kevin-o-leary-says-data-centres-use-less-water-than-golf-courses-the-numbers-are-more-complicated--r9pungmdm) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Leak reveals Amazon plan to keep water use of data centres secret](https://daily.dev/posts/leak-reveals-amazon-plan-to-keep-water-use-of-data-centres-secret-97gaura5f) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The AI water issue is fake](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake-6vkr90ea4) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [Nvidia wants to cut data center water use, but that’s not the same as fixing AI’s water problem](https://daily.dev/posts/nvidia-wants-to-cut-data-center-water-use-but-that-s-not-the-same-as-fixing-ai-s-water-problem-n3wyfnnpl) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#sustainability](https://daily.dev/tags/sustainability), [#ai-infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-infrastructure) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T12:33:48.066Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:27:39.012Z","description":"Water UK, the trade body representing England's water suppliers, has warned MPs that the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 fails to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8955af95deda8af3dc876e56fb54ee27?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8955af95deda8af3dc876e56fb54ee27?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"sustainability,ai-infrastructure","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Water UK says AI data centre plans ignore where the water comes from"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/water-uk-says-ai-data-centre-plans-ignore-where-the-water-comes-from-dd4dhi26h#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much water do UK data centres currently use per day and how much could that grow by 2030?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Data centres in England currently use about 6.6 million litres of drinking water a day. Water UK projects this could rise to 19.8 million litres daily if the government's plan to triple UK data centre capacity by 2030 goes ahead, since data centre water demand is not currently counted in national water resource planning. Track how AI infrastructure growth intersects with resource constraints like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why can't water companies restrict data centre water use during a drought or hosepipe ban?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"UK data centres are classified as critical national infrastructure, which limits water companies' ability to reduce their supply when water is scarce. During hosepipe bans across southern and eastern England, restrictions applied to households while data centres continued drawing on drinking-quality water supplies, according to Water UK. Anyone weighing AI infrastructure trade-offs can follow policy shifts like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```