Data Centres: Water Resources Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Baroness Grender
Main Page: Baroness Grender (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Grender's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Data Centres: Water Resources
Baroness Grender Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
Proper information about the actual water use of data centres is clearly very important. We are taking action to support the data centre sector in England on this. Part of what we are doing is working across government to determine how we can increase water efficiency, to reduce the data centre water demand in the first place. We are also looking at not just the available evidence but the emerging evidence that is coming through on water use in data centres. One way to get that is to work with Ofwat’s Smart Water Metering Delivery Group, which will look at rolling out smart meters in the non-household market. That will help us better understand what the standards and delivery expectations are and how much water is being used. That work is due to be completed over the next 12 months.
Baroness Grender (LD)
Does the Minister accept that individual data centres can use as much water as thousands of homes yet it is still so ironic that these data centres do not appear able to provide transparent data about their own usage of water? What steps are the Government taking to ensure that new data centres put their own capabilities and machine-learning know-how to good use to tell us and provide us with that information?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)
I mentioned the Water Delivery Taskforce in response to the previous question. The whole point of that is to bring together government, industry and regulators to improve that evidence. We want to look at how best we can get that information from data use centres. It is early days with this at the moment, but we are very aware that we need to get this information if we are to look at the best use of our water resources. This year has clearly demonstrated that we need to look at this, and not just at data centres. Golf courses use an enormous amount more water than data centres, for example, so it is about looking at that bigger picture as well.