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Fears as datacentres 'fail to disclose water usage'

The Observer

|

September 07, 2025

Datacentres intended to support AI are being allowed to draw hundreds of millions of litres of water from the ground in England, despite government advisers warning of a risk to the security of national supplies.

- Jon Ungoed-Thomas

In January ministers announced dedicated growth zones to fast-track the construction of the powerful new datacentres required to power AI. There is now growing pressure for the centres to disclose the amount of water they are using.

England faces a shortfall of 5bn litres a day between available supplies and expected demand by 2055, according to Environment Agency (EA) figures. Thames Water has warned that some of the world's biggest datacentres can consume up to 19m litres of water a day - the equivalent of supplying 50,000 homes.

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