- UK trade body has warned that water has not been factored in to UK government AI policy and projections
- The UK is facing a deficit of 5 billion litres of water by 2055
- Data centers are now national infrastructure, meaning water companies will have little control over how much water they consume
The trade body representing UK water companies has criticized government plans for AI growth zones, stating usage by data centers has not been factored into the nation’s water forecasts.
Water UK called the plans “fatally flawed” and said that projections “explicitly exclude” data centers.
The trade body added that the government policy “makes not a single mention of water” when it comes to delivering AI growth zones, the AI for science strategy or the AI opportunities action plan.
Public water supplies stretched thin
Water UK released its criticism of the government’s policy in a written briefing to MPs, where it stated that “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.”
A May 2026 report from the House of Lords predicted that by 2055 England would face a 5 billion litre shortfall for public water supplies if no action was taken.
But as much as 60% of this deficit could be addressed “through demand management and leakage reduction”. The House of Lords report also called for water companies to be made “statutory consultees on all major planning decisions, including housing developments, data centres, and energy infrastructure projects, to support water resource planning.”
New data center projects are popping up across the UK, with data centers now being able to apply for the status of ‘national importance’, allowing them to skirt local building regulations and fast-track their approval through Whitehall.
During the most recent heatwave, the south and east of England was placed under a hosepipe ban in order to conserve water by reducing non-essential water usage. But in Slough, where there are a planned 125 data center projects, the supplier Affinity Water has warned that some of these projects were requesting as much as 3m litres of water a day.
Due to current Environment Agency regulations, the water provided to data centers must be drinking water only. The UK government has designated data centers as critical infrastructure, as their loss would result in a “major detrimental impact on the availability, integrity or delivery of essential services” and “significant impact on national security, national defence, or the functioning of the state”.
Therefore, there may be little that UK water companies can do to reduce the water usage of data centers, particularly during heatwaves – meaning that restrictions on non-essential water use (such as hosepipe bans) will apply only to people.
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