Britons are preparing to sweat their way through the fourth heatwave of the summer this week, with chunks of the country facing drought thanks to the driest six months since 1976, but aside from turning off the tap, the UK Government is asking households to take another simple measure to save water – emptying their spam folder.

The prospect of a ‘nationally significant’ water shortage has led the UK’s National Drought Group to recommend that everyone delete their old emails and pictures, in the hope of curtailing the vast amounts of water used by data centres to cool their systems.

While deleting emails is just one measure being encouraged, along with the usual advice to avoid watering lawns and taking shorter showers, that almost effortless change in habit might prove to be a significant step in safeguarding the future of the planet’s fresh water reserves.

Studies have shown that even ‘small’, one megawatt data centres, using enough electricity to power 1,000 homes, can use up to 26 million litres of water per year to transfer heat away from their servers using traditional cooling methods.    

In those cases, water can be sprayed into the air flowing past servers or vaporised beside them to take their heat, but is lost as it evaporates rather than re-entering the water system, putting pressure on areas experiencing a sustained dry spell.

Research has found that data centre water consumption has increased by almost 10% over five years, driven by the huge swell in AI development since the release of ChatGPT in 2022. The World Economic Forum estimated that AI’s requirement for power is just about doubling every 100 days, putting immense stress on already overloaded data centres to stay cool.

That already bad environmental situation is being made worse by our digital habits. A new YouGov survey found that 28% of UK adults have either kept all or most of all the emails they have ever received, compared to 17% who have managed to just about clear their inbox.

The UK sees more than 8 billion emails sent per day, meaning that a lot of water is being used (and wasted) to store the countless newsletters, marketing and promotional junk that most likely will never be looked at.  

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With drought already being declared across swathes of England, including Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and the East Midlands, and temperatures expected to spike beyond 30°C, the Government is keen to make sure it’s taking every step possible to stave off more severe water shortages.

“The current situation is nationally significant, and we are calling on everyone to play their part and help reduce the pressure on our water environment,” said Helen Wakeham, the Environment Agency’s director of water.

“Simple, everyday choices – such as turning off a tap or deleting old emails – really help the collective effort to reduce demand and help preserve the health of our rivers and wildlife.”