‘The government has all but forgotten that most data centres require water to cool their systems’: Industry trade board warns UK government over data center thirst for resources
- UK plans include trebling data center capacity (and likely, water consumption) by 2030
- Daily average consumption doesn’t reflect peak demand during times of stress
- Water UK sets out three considerations to prepare for increased demand
Despite the nation wanting to treble its data center capacity by 2030, a key trade body has warned British government policies have not considered the rising demand for water.
At the moment, England’s water resources forecasts, for example, exclude the likes of data centers and gigafactories.
“Water companies therefore have a limit placed on how much future water they can provide,” Water UK wrote, warning that air cooling doesn’t quite cut it due to the high expense and inefficiency compared with water cooling.
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UK data center plans forget to mention water
With current estimations implying that Britain’s data centers consume around 6.6 million litres per day, the equivalent of 20,000 homes, trebling capacity would ultimately mean the UK would need find find a volume of water equivalent to a further 40,000 homes.
But ‘average’ doesn’t quite spell out the reality of water consumption, because peak demand can rise to around 14 million litres per day in the warmest weather. Under that guidance and with the current 2030 ambitions, the UK would need to be prepared to drop 42 million litres per day, highlighting the need for major storage facilities.
The report also slates the government for advising water companies to plan as if businesses would need less water in the future – forgetting that data center consumption changes this model.
Water UK sets out three options for the government to consider, beginning with temporarily removing the limit on how much water utility companies can take from the environment, with the important caveat that they spend that time exploring and funding new sources of water abstraction.
Two further options include allowing developers to fund new water supplies, and imposing tougher water efficiency standards on data center projects.
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