AIBU to question hosepipe bans while AI water use gets little scrutiny

[MariaMagdalenaa]

AIBU to think it’s ridiculous that there is a hosepipe ban and I cannot water my plants in this heat whilst I see hardly any discussions or questions raised about the massive drain on our water resources by AI?

It will have. Water is a scarce resource.

Yawn.

Really? You don’t care about our planet and future generations?

And in the UK, Ai or data centers consume only a negligible amount of it.

In the grand scheme of things, we hardly have any data centers

Not so! Microsoft have data centres based the UK and I'm aware of 3 being built in and around my area, less than 25 mile radius. You might not be aware of them as typically never advertised due to security. The UK defence sector mandate UK only so all has to within the UK.

You should ask AI to compare the water footprint of a simple cup of coffee or tea 🤣
cotton T-shirts don’t come out great either. Truth is, everything we consume uses masses & masses of water.

Maybe Mumsnet just isn’t the forum to discuss these things. Strange as we should all be concern about the future of our children.

The name of the forum is AIBU. You asked if you were being unreasonable to be annoyed about the hosepipe bans when AI data centers exist. We have explained that the hosepipe bans have nothing to do with data centers because they actually use very little of the UK's water.

What did you want from this thread?

This is true I posted on YABU. I think so many people misunderstood my post. It’s not really about the hose pipe ban, it’s about how we put controls in around people watering their garden, but no controls around the really big issues threatening our environment. I find it difficult to understand that people don’t care about our planet. I am so worried about what the world will look like for future generations.

Well in that case you are not being unreasonable! I completely agree with this sentiment, and I think that lots of people do care, but are unable to do anything about it!

What on earth are you on about?

This. Honestly, yet another fuss about nothing. We have water restrictions most summers where I live, the plants survive without the use of hoses.

It doesn't matter what is using water, you've been told not to, stop whining.

Add to this the number of reservoirs that water companies have mothballed to save money. Yes, it has been hot and we need to wake up and smell the coffee, but it was a wet winter.

Another one who hasn’t read my posts. It’s not about hosepipe ban, I wanted to talk about AI, to compare how strict we are on the hosepipe ban, but not ai and a myriad of other environmental issues. Me watering my garden is not the main driver for water scarcity or climate change, but as soon as gets hot, action is taken on the hosepipes. Why are action not taken anywhere else? Answer to the question is : big business.

I hear a lot about how awful AI is environmentally, including the high water usage.

I have water butt and not a huge number of plants. No hosepipe involved. I realised the neighbours use a hosepipe to water their plants, though.

United Kingdom data center water consumption market size in 2026 is estimated at 233.44 billion liters, growing from 2025 value of 214.12 billion liters with 2031 projections showing 359.34 billion liters, growing at 9.02% CAGR over 2026-2031.

Source: https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/united-kingdom-data-center-water-consumption-market

Yabu. Kent uses mostly aquifers to supply water. These filled up over winter to almost unprecedented levels.
Two heatwaves and the level of extraction used by AGRICULTURE to keep their crops alive is phenomenal. A county that has so much agriculture has almost zero infrastructure of reservoirs.
In the time I lived there we were shoveling three feet of snow to get out of our house..and we still had a hosepipe ban at the same time.
Its not AI. Its complete lack of management and investment.

The problem is a lot of that water just runs off and isn’t captured. Obviously it helps top up the reservoirs but it doesn’t help with agricultural use in a summer drought (not saying we have a drought, just in principle).

There are proposals for another 17 in Scotland, never mind the existing 22 already here.

Even if those numbers are correct (no sources are given besides "it's our estimate") then data centers are still only using 0.00456% of our total water supply.

Interesting research reported in the Guardian (not sure if also reported elsewhere) about the heat impacts of data centres - residents of Slough talking about their experiences.

The irony is that "AI" can be used to look at aerial photos to spot people who are watering their gardens ... fines to follow 😎

I grow a lot of my own food I’m not prepared to lose my crop when Barb next door has a pool filled for her feet

The value of 233.44 billion litres represents 1.6674% of 14,000 billion litres (which is a massive increase over your original and also amended percentage).

Also, 84% of proposed UK data centres to be built in water stressed areas - so simply using a value of the total UK water supply gives a very unreal view.

The vast majority of UK data centres are concentrated in and around Greater London. London leads with around 154 facilities. The West London town of Slough (Berkshire) is considered Europe's largest single data centre hub, hosting 30 to 40 massive hyperscale facilities due to its proximity to transatlantic fibre cables.

There is no hosepipe ban in Kent, it doesn't come into force until 3rd July.