South East Water: Disruption of Supply Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
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South East Water: Disruption of Supply
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)
My Lords, 84% of proposed UK data centres are in areas already in water stress or projected to be so by 2040, and water bills for households are expected to rise because of the construction of data centres. Does the Minister agree that we should not be building data centres where there is not enough water and that households should not be paying for this construction by tech companies?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
It is quite a challenge, is it not? How do we get that balance right? It is really challenging: we know in this country that we need more infrastructure, but how do we balance the needs of infrastructure with the water requirements that go along with that? The noble Baroness talked about data companies, but you could say the same for housing and other industries that use a lot of water, because we all do. We are looking at data companies in particular because we need to ensure that we have sufficient water supply without impacting on other areas.