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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to introduce mandatory water efficiency requirements for (a) data centres and (b) other large non-household users.

In February, Government committed to looking at ways to help drive the uptake of water reuse and rainwater management for large non-household water users including data centres within the Water White Paper. Non-household businesses are encouraged to enquire about water efficiency audits through their water retailer to suggest and implement areas for improvement, including fixing leaks across the property.

The Government encourages developers to consider use of non-potable water, to embed water efficiency or water recycling and reuse in their design and contact their proposed water and wastewater supplier early in the planning process to understand and plan for any potential water restrictions.