Environment Agency demands Brits take shorter showers and clear inboxes to ease pressure on thirsty data centres – as £104bn rescue plan unveiled
Britons are being urged to DELETE OLD EMAILS to help prevent catastrophic water shortages that could leave taps running dry by 2055, environment officials warned today.
The stark demand comes as the Environment Agency revealed England faces a staggering daily shortfall of FIVE BILLION litres in just 30 years – equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium four-and-a-half times every single day.
In an extraordinary intervention, officials said clearing email inboxes would ease pressure on water-guzzling data centres and server farms, which consume millions of litres daily to keep Britain’s digital economy running.
The regulator warned that without urgent action – including ten new reservoirs, nine desalination plants and halving water leaks – the nation faces economic catastrophe, interrupted supplies and a collapse in food production.
EMAIL SERVERS DRINKING US DRY
The EA’s bombshell report reveals that data centres – which store everything from emails to social media posts – are among the top water-consuming industries in Britain.
A single mid-sized data centre consumes around 300,000 gallons of water daily – as much as 1,000 households – with much of it used to cool servers that would otherwise overheat.
Officials are now urging the public to delete unnecessary emails and digital files to reduce the computational load on these thirsty facilities, which use water-intensive cooling systems to prevent meltdown.
Environment Agency chairman Alan Lovell delivered a chilling warning: “This deficit threatens not only the water from your tap but also economic growth and food production.
SOUTH EAST FACING WORST CRISIS
The heavily populated South East faces the biggest shortfall, with an estimated extra TWO BILLION litres of water needed daily between 2030 and 2055.
The crisis comes after England endured its driest spring in over a century, with the North West and Yorkshire already in drought and some reservoirs at critically low levels.
Climate change, a population explosion that will see England gain eight million more people by 2055, and rising demand from energy-hungry industries are driving the catastrophic shortage.
£104BN RESCUE PLAN
The Government has secured £104billion for infrastructure improvements over the next five years, including:
- 10 new reservoirs to store precious water
- 9 desalination plants to turn seawater into drinking water
- 7 water recycling schemes
- Massive water transfer projects from wetter regions to drier areas
But the EA warned that 60 per cent of the deficit must be tackled by water companies dramatically reducing leaks – currently running at billions of litres daily – and managing demand.
TURN OFF THE TAP – NOW!
Beyond deleting emails, Britons are being told to:
- Take shorter showers
- Turn off taps while brushing teeth
- Only run washing machines with full loads
- Install water-efficient appliances
- Report any leaks immediately
The agency wants a nationwide rollout of smart meters to help households slash their water use, alongside mandatory efficiency labels on dishwashers, toilets and showers.
AI BOOM ‘UNMEASURABLE’ THREAT
In a shocking revelation, the EA admitted it CANNOT predict the true scale of future water shortages because of the explosive growth in AI data centres.
Sources told reporters that the exclusion of AI facilities from water projections makes it “impossible to quantify the true future water deficit.”
Industry estimates suggest AI operations could consume up to 6.6 billion cubic metres of water annually by 2027 – equivalent to two-thirds of England’s total current consumption.
LEAKY BRITAIN
Thames Water alone leaks an estimated 570 million litres daily – the highest volume of any UK water company – while planning a controversial scheme to pump 75 million litres of treated sewage into the River Thames during droughts.
Water companies have been ordered to slash leakage by 17 per cent in the next five years and halve it by 2050 – though critics say the targets are nowhere near ambitious enough.
‘DISASTROUS’ WILDLIFE IMPACT
Mr Lovell warned: “Taking water unsustainably from the environment will have a disastrous impact on our rivers and wildlife.
We need to tackle these challenges head on and strengthen work on co-ordinated action to preserve this precious resource and our current way of life.”
The crisis threatens not just household taps but Britain’s entire economy, with the wider business sector facing an additional daily deficit of a billion litres.
As England stares down the barrel of its worst water crisis in history, the message is clear: every drop counts – and yes, that includes deleting those old emails cluttering your inbox.
