Data may be digital, but its footprint is deeply physical
By Nij Martin
UK government asking people to delete their old photos, emails and screenshots to SAVE WATER.
“The government says deleting a thousand emails with attachments could save up to 77 1/2 litres of water a year.” pic.twitter.com/tbPzZARDwR
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 16, 2025
The United Kingdom is facing its worst water crisis in nearly 50 years, with drought officially declared across several regions and reservoir levels falling dangerously low. In response to this emergency, authorities are urging citizens to adopt every possible water-saving measure – including some unexpected suggestions like deleting old emails and digital photos. This unusual advice stems from the hidden but significant water footprint of our digital lives.
Data centers that store our emails, photos and online information require massive amounts of water for cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating. A single 1-megawatt data center can consume around 26 million liters of water annually through cooling processes alone. To put this in perspective, Google’s data center in Oregon used 355 million gallons of water in 2021 – enough to fill 538 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The UK’s National Drought Group estimates that deleting just 1,000 emails with attachments could save approximately 77.5 liters of water per year by reducing storage demands.
While this might seem insignificant for an individual, when multiplied across millions of users, these small actions could collectively make a difference. However, some experts question the actual impact, arguing that most water consumption comes from active data processing rather than storage of old emails. They note that the energy used to search for and delete emails might even offset some of the potential savings. The debate highlights how our increasingly digital world intersects with environmental challenges in unexpected ways.
The water crisis has been building throughout 2024, with England experiencing its driest January-to-July period since 1976. Five regions are now in official drought status, while six others face prolonged dry weather conditions. Reservoir levels across the country have dropped to just 67.7% capacity, significantly below the normal 80.5% for this time of year. Traditional water-saving measures like hosepipe bans, fixing leaks, and shorter showers remain crucial, but authorities are exploring every possible avenue to reduce demand.
The situation is further complicated by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which require ever more data processing power. AI’s thirst for data is driving expansion of data centers worldwide, with facilities in places like Virginia, Texas and California already straining local water supplies. In Georgia, one Meta-operated data center reportedly accounts for about 10% of the area’s total daily water usage, causing problems for local residents. As the UK positions itself as a leader in AI development, including plans to build Europe’s largest data center in Hertfordshire, balancing technological growth with environmental sustainability will become increasingly challenging.
While deleting old emails may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the water crisis, it serves an important purpose in raising awareness about the hidden environmental costs of our digital habits. It reminds us that every aspect of modern life – even something as seemingly intangible as data storage – has real-world resource implications. As Helen Wakeham, Director of Water at the Environment Agency, emphasizes: “Simple, everyday choices – such as turning off a tap or deleting old emails – really help the collective effort to reduce demand.”
Ultimately, solving the UK’s water crisis will require both individual actions and systemic changes – from more water-efficient data centers to infrastructure improvements and better water management policies. The unusual suggestion to delete emails highlights how interconnected our world has become, where even our digital behaviors can impact physical resource constraints. As climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe, understanding these connections and finding innovative solutions will only grow more important for ensuring water security in the years ahead.