Asked by: Lord Kinnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many data centres are using or adapting their equipment to enable recycling of their own water for cooling systems; and how many data centres of older design and construction are not proceeding with such improvements and will continue to reply on a local water supply.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, works with DEFRA, the Environment Agency and others to ensure data infrastructure growth does not compromise public water supply resilience. To that end, the Government supports the adoption of efficient cooling technologies (closed-loop systems) and alternative sources like rainwater harvesting. National planning policy embeds consideration of sustainable water use and resource efficiency in decision making. In 2025, a techUK–Environment Agency survey found that 51% of surveyed sites use closed loop cooling systems, and 64% use less than 10,000m³ of water per year. This is small compared to other sectors. Data centres in England are estimated to account for around 0.2% of non-household water use.