Concern the UK’s AI ambitions could lead to water shortages

Industry sources told the BBC that the Sir Kerr Starmer plan to make the United Kingdom a “global pioneer” in artificial intelligence (AI) can actually put an extended supply of drinking water under pressure.

Giant data centers needed to operate artificial intelligence can require large amounts of water to prevent them from high temperature.

The technology industry says it is developing more efficient cooling systems that use less water.

But the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology said in a statement that it realized that the plants “face sustainability challenges.”

The government has committed to building multiple data centers throughout the country in an attempt to start economic growth.

The ministers insist on Energy -thirsty server farms The priority of access to the electricity network will be granted.

Questions were raised On the impact of this on government plans to produce clean energy by 2030.

However, less attention has been paid to the data centers that databases can enjoy on providing fresh drinkable water to homes and companies.

Parts of the United Kingdom, in the south in particular, are already being threatened with water shortages due to climate change and population growth.

The government supports nine new tank plans to reduce the risk of legalization and banning the Hawsib during dryness.

But some of them are in areas where new data centers are built.

The first “artificial intelligence growth areas” in Culham, Oxfordshire, will be on the campus of the UK Atomic Energy Authority – seven miles from a new tank site planned in Abingdon.

The 4.5 square meter tank (7 square kilometers) will provide customers in the Times Valley, London and Hampsheer. The amount of water that the new huge databases can now take.

The BBC understands that the Times Water talks to the government about challenging water demand in relation to data centers and how it can be mitigated.

In a new report, the Royal Academy of Engineering calls on the government to ensure reporting the amount of energy and water used by their databases.

It also calls for environmental sustainability requirements for all databases, including reducing the use of drinking water, and moving to zero use for cooling.

Without this procedure, one of the authors of the report, Professor Tom Roddin, warns, “We face a real danger that our development, spread and use of artificial intelligence can lead to irreparable damage to the environment.”

The technology industry tends to be a cage on water consumption. Most of the UK Data Centers contacted this article did not respond to our inquiries.

Data centers use fresh water and water, instead of surface water, so that pipes, pumps and thermal exchanges are not used to cool servers with pollutants.

The amount used can vary greatly depending on a number of factors, including the surrounding environment; The sites in more cold parts of the world tend to ask less.

Dr. Vinkatish Uddameri, a Texas expert in water resources management, says that the typical data center can use between 11 million and 19 million liters of water per day, which is approximately 30,000 to 50,000 people.

Its accounts are widely based on arid or almost arid climates, and do not take into account the improvements of recent efficiency or developments in artificial intelligence.

The use of global microsoft water increased by 34 % while developing primary artificial intelligence tools, and the Iowa Data Center group used 6 % of water supply in the region during one month during the GPT-4 training from Openai.

Local resistance to data centers is increasing around the worldEspecially in the areas where the water is rare.

In Chile, Google stopped creating a data center after concerns about the use of water, and re -designed the cooling system at another in Uruguay after local protests.

In the UK, the Times Water warned data centers that may face restrictions on use during heat waves.

In 2022, the company said it would review the use of database water because it is ready to enter Hosepe prohibited during a summer draft.

But Foxglove, a group of campaign lawyers, found evidence from Themes Water Strategy Documents the following year that the company still does not know the amount of water used by the current data center customers.

The Times rejected the suspension water. She learned of its last five years, which the government agreed.

This states that he does not have a legal commitment to companies, and he can choose to restrict or reject water for commercial customers; But this was written in front of the government Data stations designated as a critical national infrastructureThis means that they will face fewer planning restrictions.

Themes Water presented an objection to the plan of a new data center in the Slough group, near the reading, in 2021.

But other proposals in the region have since succeeded: for example in August 2024, the Yondr company announced that it will build its third campus for the data center there.

“The government must urgently explain how it will not threaten its plans for the new data centers our long -term supply of drinking water,” said Foxglove Martha Dark.

A government spokesman said: “We realize that data centers face sustainability challenges such as energy requirements and water use – and for this reason artificial intelligence growth areas were designed to attract investment in areas where the energy and current water infrastructure is located.”

In addition, the recent changes made by the Owwat water regulator “open 104 billion pounds of spending by water companies” in the next five years.

The data center industry argues that modern sites are already more efficient. Alternative cooling methods that do not require much water, such as free air cooling and dry cooling.

The closed loop cooling, which includes water reuse, will be published in the new database in Microsoft in Phoenix and Wissonsin.

Aaron Pinkley, deputy head of sustainability at Digital Realty, admitted criticism about the use of data centers water, but claimed that the sector was “great steps”.

His company, which has 300 data centers around the world, experiences a new AI tool that analyzes operational data and determines water saving measures. He says it is expected to keep nearly 4 million liters of water annually.

It is clear that this is currently expecting a reality, but Mr. Binckley says it proves that “Amnesty International can push sustainability as well as technological progress.”

In 2024, the Environment Agency wrote in a blog By 2050, England alone will need five billion liters of additional water every day-it says that this is the equivalent of two million high-end sexes-only to serve the population.

But the organizer now needs more data for the future needs factor for new data centers.

Currently, it urges data centers to predict and plan their water consumption – and explore their water sources, such as water reuse.

The source says: “To meet the increasing demand for water is not only to solve the water industry.”