Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with industry stakeholders on reducing water consumption in data centre operations.

The Environment Agency (EA) is engaging with the data centre sector to gain a better understanding of current and future water needs. In August, techUK published a white paper to summarise the results of a survey carried out in collaboration with the EA.

When data centres are planned and designed, consideration should be given to the types of cooling technology being selected and the corresponding water needs. An assessment of the options should be made, including closed-loop water cooling which uses much less water, and air cooling where feasible. Consideration must also be given to where the data centre is going to be located to ensure that any water needs can be met. The EA encourage data centre developers to consider use of non-potable water, to embed water efficiency or water reuse in their design and contact their proposed water and wastewater supplier early in the planning process.