Digital drought fix? Keir Starmer-led UK government tells citizens to erase emails and pics to conserve water

Time of India

2 days ago

UK water shortage 2025
:
In an unusual attempt to tackle the growing water crisis, the Keir Starmer-led UK government is urging citizens to delete old emails and digital photos as a way to help conserve water, advice that has left many questioning the government's approach, as per a report.
England Facing Worst Drought Since 1976
The recommendation comes amid a "nationally significant" water shortage, with five regions officially in drought and six more experiencing long-term dry conditions, as reported by Tom's Hardware. England has just endured its driest six-month stretch since 1976, and August isn't shaping up to bring much relief, according to the report. Rivers and reservoirs are shrinking, and the government is scrambling to promote water-saving measures, as per Tom's Hardware report.
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 4
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Artificial Intelligence
AI For Business Professionals Batch 2
By Ansh Mehra
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 3
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Artificial Intelligence
AI For Business Professionals
By Vaibhav Sisinity
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 2
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass Batch-1
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
ALSO READ:
Booked to fly Air Canada? Massive flight attendants' strike could wreck your plans - is yours on the list?
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Undo
UK Government's Water Crisis Advice Includes a Surprising Digital Twist
Among the practical and widely accepted suggestions, like collecting rainwater, fixing leaky toilets, shortening showers, and avoiding lawn watering, the guidance released Tuesday also includes a digital twist of deleting old files to reduce demand on water-hungry data centres, as reported by Tom's Hardware.
The guidance stated that, "Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems," as quoted in the report.
Live Events
ALSO READ:
Record-breaking $27.7 tariff haul in July has Trump celebrating, but will it last?
Experts Say Digital Cleanups Unlikely to Save Water
However, experts have highlighted that the advice is likely not very sensible, according to the report. While it's true that some data centers use evaporative cooling systems, most of the water and energy consumption is tied to powering servers during high computational tasks, like running AI models or streaming video, not storing your decade-old vacation photos or unread newsletters, as per the Tom's Hardware report. In fact, many storage drives sit idle in low-power states, especially for rarely accessed data, according to the report.
Could Deleting Emails Use More Energy Than Storing Them?
Not only would deleting files have a negligible effect on data center operations, it could actually increase water and energy use if done in mass, which would make this a counterproductive exercise, as per the Tom's Hardware report.
Much of UK's Cloud Data Isn't Even Stored in the UK
Meanwhile, if the data a person is trying to delete to save water is stored in a data center outside of the UK, they will actually end up saving water, or more likely not, in some other country, as reported by the Tom's Hardware. This is because the UK does not have a universal law mandating that citizen data has to be stored within the country, according to the report.
FAQs
Will deleting old emails and photos really help save water?
Not significantly. Experts say it's a negligible action that's unlikely to make a real difference in data center water use, as per the Tom's Hardware report.
How to save water at home?
Fix leaks, collect rainwater, reuse wastewater for plants, shorten showers, and avoid unnecessary lawn watering, as per the Tom's Hardware report.