UK Urges Email Deletion for Water Amidst AI Data Center Thirst
As Britain grapples with one of its most severe droughts in decades, a striking plea has emerged from its leaders: delete old emails to conserve water. The unusual directive, reported by 404Media.co, suggests that clearing out digital clutter could alleviate the strain on data centers, which are surprisingly water-intensive operations.
The call comes amidst a deepening water crisis across England, where the situation has been officially declared a “nationally significant incident.” Five areas, including Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, East Midlands, and West Midlands, are now officially in drought, with six more experiencing prolonged dry weather conditions. Reservoir levels across England have fallen to 67.7% full on average, significantly below the 80.5% average for the first week of August, following the driest six months to July since 1976. The National Drought Group, comprising various government bodies, water companies, and environmental experts, has convened to address the dwindling supplies, with some water companies already implementing hosepipe bans and even applying for non-essential use restrictions.
While the immediate connection between digital data and water conservation might seem tenuous to the general public, it lies in the often-overlooked environmental footprint of data centers. These vast facilities, the backbone of our digital world, consume enormous amounts of energy and, crucially, water for cooling their powerful servers and preventing overheating. A single large data center can “drink” up to 5 million gallons of water per day, an amount comparable to the daily water usage of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. This water is typically used in cooling towers, where it evaporates as it absorbs heat, meaning it’s not simply recycled in a closed loop.
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services is exacerbating this demand, with AI models requiring immense computational resources that, in turn, drive up water consumption. For instance, training a large language model in a data center can directly evaporate hundreds of thousands of liters of water. This increasing thirst for water by the digital infrastructure puts significant pressure on freshwater supplies, especially in regions already facing scarcity.
The Environment Agency has previously acknowledged the link, recommending the deletion of old emails as a measure to save water, though the precise impact of individual email deletion on overall water consumption remains a subject of debate. Critics sometimes argue that the energy and water used in the act of deleting and processing those deletions might offset some of the theoretical savings, and that the scale of individual action pales in comparison to the consumption by major tech giants.
Beyond individual actions, the UK government is engaged in broader digital sustainability initiatives. The Government Digital Sustainability Alliance (GDSA), established in 2022, brings together government, industry, and academia to reduce the environmental impact of the UK government’s IT estate. Its objectives include fostering sustainable solutions and reducing e-waste, aligning with wider goals like the Net Zero Pathway and Greening Government Commitments. This strategic approach aims to ensure that digital transformation supports, rather than hinders, climate change and environmental objectives.
As the UK navigates this severe drought, the call to delete emails serves as a stark reminder of the hidden environmental costs of our digital lives, pushing the conversation beyond visible water taps to the unseen infrastructure that powers our connected world.