In a move that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever looked at a water bill, the Green Party has called for a freeze on new data centres in England. Zack Polanski, the party's leader, is demanding a 'slam on the brakes' for these 'energy guzzling, water guzzling' facilities, citing the UK's ongoing drought and the sheer amount of H2O needed to keep servers from melting into puddles of silicon.

Speaking at a proposed data centre site in East London, Polanski argued that 'critical infrastructure' should mean hospitals, water, and electricity - not 'Artificial Intelligence'. Because, let's face it, when the taps run dry, you can't exactly ask ChatGPT for a glass of water.

Data centres, which were classified as critical in 2024 (likely so they could get extra support during cyber-attacks and extreme weather), are currently using about 1.9 billion litres of drinkable water a year in England - roughly 0.2% of the non-household market. The Water Research Centre consultancy estimates this, and notes a 'clear upward trend'. The Greens, citing Global Action Plan, suggest large centres could guzzle 1.5 million litres per day. That's a lot of tea.

But wait, there's more. Many of these centres are clustered around London and the south of England - areas officially in drought. Because of course they are. The hotter the area, the more water needed to cool the equipment. It's almost as if building water-hungry facilities in arid regions is a bad idea.

The government, predictably, is not thrilled. A spokesperson warned that a pause 'would be a disaster for jobs and national security', and would leave Britain dependent on overseas computing for sensitive health and defence data. They also noted that much more water - about a fifth of the supply - is lost through leaks anyway, so why worry about a few data centres? (We're paraphrasing, but the sentiment is there.)

Meanwhile, Mark Acton of the Data Centre Alliance insists data centres aren't stealing water from local communities and use less than leisure centres and golf courses. Which is comforting, unless you're a golf course.

The BBC has also discovered that ministers haven't even conducted an environmental assessment of their 'Delivering AI growth zones' strategy. A government official called it a 'statement of intent', which is bureaucratic for 'we didn't really think this through'. But hey, no data centres in the UK currently have to report their water usage, so ignorance is bliss.

Rosa Curling of Foxglove suggests the government already has the power to make tech billionaires pay for their own costs, rather than the British public. As a minimum, she says, no hyperscale data centre should be approved unless it comes with its own renewable energy and doesn't drain local water supplies. Radical, we know.

So, as the UK faces a drought and data centres multiply like rabbits, the question remains: will we choose between our water supply and our Instagram feeds? The Greens hope not. The government hopes you'll stop asking awkward questions. And somewhere, a server is sweating.