Overview

• England remains under a nationally significant drought declaration with hosepipe bans and reservoir levels at roughly two-thirds capacity.
• The National Drought Group’s recommendation to delete old emails and photos as a water-saving measure has drawn sharp criticism from technical experts.
• Independent calculations show clearing a typical email saves around one-thousandth of a millilitre of cooling water per month.
• Cases such as Google’s The Dalles data centre highlight that large facilities can consume hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually.
• Policymakers are pressing water firms to reduce leaks and debating how to regulate new AI and data-centre projects to protect local water resources.