Latest news with #waterconsumption
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
Heatwave causes water shortages in Iran as temps top 50C
Iranian authorities have urged people to limit water consumption as the country grapples with severe shortages during an ongoing heatwave. The national meteorological service said Iran is experiencing its hottest week of the year so far with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some areas. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani announced in a post on X on Sunday that Tehran province would observe a public holiday on Wednesday because of the ongoing heatwave. 'In light of the continued extreme heat and the necessity of conserving water and electricity, Wednesday … has been declared a holiday in Tehran province,' she wrote. Temperatures in Tehran reached 40C (104F) on Sunday with a further rise to 41C (106F) forecast for Monday, according to meteorological reports. Impact of climate change Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country's south, with shortages blamed on mismanagement and overexploitation of underground resources, as well as the growing impact of climate change. Tehran city council chair Mehdi Chamran urged people to 'conserve water to avoid drops in supplies', according to the ISNA news agency. Authorities across Iran have issued similar appeals in recent days, asking residents in several provinces to limit water usage. Tehran's provincial water management company called for usage to be reduced by 'at least 20 percent' to help ease the shortages. In a statement, it said 'the reservoirs of the dams supplying water to Tehran are currently at their lowest level in a century', following years of steady decline in rainfall. Javan, a conservative newspaper, reported on Saturday that authorities reduced water supplies in parts of the capital in a bid to mitigate the crisis, resulting in 'water outages lasting between 12 and 18 hours' in some areas. Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi apologised on Sunday for reduced water supplies, saying the move comes 'to better manage resources'.
The Guardian
15-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
More of England expected to enter drought status after hottest June on record
As many as five areas of England are expected to go into drought this summer after the hottest June since records began in 1884. Three heatwaves, which tend to increase water consumption, combined with a lack of rain means that large swathes of England are heading towards drought status and the damage to the environment that entails. Officials from the Met Office and Environment Agency told journalists in a briefing that they expected more hosepipe bans to be enacted across the country this summer. Richard Thompson, the deputy director for water resources at the EA, said the agency had been pressing water companies to enact their drought plans, including hosepipe bans. He confirmed that more regions were expected to enter drought status and the affected regions would be confirmed on Tuesday. Thames Water on Monday announced a hosepipe ban for households in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire. Yorkshire Water and South East Water have already put temporary use bans in place. Yorkshire and the north-west of England are officially in drought status while the north-east, East Midlands, West Midlands and much of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey are in prolonged dry weather status, the level below drought. Water companies have been in preliminary discussions with the EA about drought permits, the officials added. These permits allow water companies, in exceptional circumstances, to extract more water from the environment than they would usually be allowed to. The EA tries to avoid granting these permits because it can severely damage rivers and other aquatic environments, particularly when river flows are already low. Martin Salter, the head of policy at the Angling Trust, said: 'Water resource planning in the UK has been wholly inadequate for generations with no serious provision made for the impacts of climate change and population growth. Reservoir building has been minimal and leakage rates are still far too high and as a result it is always the environment that suffers. Hosepipe bans right now are obviously necessary but the problem goes far deeper than a bit of short term tinkering while our rivers suffocate and wildlife dies.' No major reservoirs have been completed in England since 1992, shortly after the water sector was privatised, and water companies leak about 3bn litres a day through faulty pipes. A landmark report from the Met Office has found searingly hot days and devastatingly heavy rainfall are happening at increasing frequency as a result of climate breakdown. Farmers have been banned from abstracting water to irrigate their crops and the grass has dried up in many areas, meaning they are having to use winter feed for their livestock. Stuart Sampson, a water resources manager at the EA, said the dry spring meant farmers started irrigating their crops early and had used up their abstraction licences for the year. He added that root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and onions were likely to suffer as a result of the drought. There have also been many fish die offs as river flows are exceptionally low, with low oxygen levels meaning fish suffocate. The warm conditions have caused harmful algal blooms on rivers and lakes across England and the reservoirs that feed canals are in their worst state for 20 years, he added. Lucy Barker, a senior hydrological analyst at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said rivers were as low as they had been in some of the country's worst droughts. She added: 'The exceptionally dry weather of the spring continued in the east of Britain in June, and has resulted in some exceptionally low flows, many of which are similar to – or lower than – those seen in droughts like 1976, 2018 and 2022. Although the wet weather in June has led to some recovery in river flows and soil moisture levels in the west, this is unlikely to have eradicated the long-term deficits that have been established since the start of year, if not in late 2024 in some places.'
ABC News
14-07-2025
- ABC News
Calls for guidelines after Greater Western Water documents reveal potential data centre water usage
Data centres in Melbourne's north and west could consume enough drinking water to supply 330,000 residents each year, raising concerns they could lead to water shortages and limit new housing. Documents, released under Freedom of Information laws, reveal water company Greater Western Water is currently reviewing 19 applications from data centres for water usage, with the requests totalling 19,714 megalitres (ML) of drinking water each year. One proposal alone in the Mt Cottrell area could consume up to 3,926 ML of water per year — equivalent to the annual water usage of 66,000 Melburnians — with an estimated water usage of 321 litres per second during peak demand. The revelations have prompted calls for the Victorian government to introduce mandatory water efficiency standards for data centres, as well as make urgent upgrades to Melbourne's water infrastructure. Of the 19 data centre applications, five have been approved by Greater Western Water so far, including one centre near Tarneit which was granted permission to consume up to 734.4 megalitres per year. In comparison, the collective water consumption of 13 out of 15 existing data centres within Greater Western Water's service area was just 33.1 megalitres last year, according to the documents (two centres did not have a figure listed). The proposed water use of the 19 data centre applications is nearly 600 times that amount. Tim Fletcher, professor of urban ecohydrology at the University of Melbourne, said 19.7 gigalitres accounted for about 4 per cent of Melbourne's total water use, and would be a "substantial" increase if approved. Without critical upgrades to its water infrastructure, he said Melbourne's water security was increasingly at risk. "We're now at a point where the combination of climate change, a growing population, and growing industrial use — including these data centres — mean we're going to need substantial extra resources." Data centres play a vital role in the digital age, housing servers that are used for the processing and storage of data, and that also help train generative artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT. They require vast amounts of water to cool their servers, and also use significant amounts of energy, accounting for about 5 per cent of Australia's total electricity consumption — a figure that is expected to grow to 8 per cent by 2030. Ascelin Gordon, a senior lecturer in sustainability and planning at RMIT University, said strict sustainability standards needed to be placed on data centres, especially amid the boom in cloud computing and AI, with ChatGPT receiving about a billion requests from users every day. "Each of those queries involves electricity to run the data centres that the ChatGPT models run on, and the water associated with keeping them cool," Dr Gordon said. "And so, while any individual query is going to be quite small, the net effect of tens of millions of queries every day is significant." Melbourne's retail water corporations are Greater Western Water, Yarra Valley Water and South East Water, and they are responsible for assessing whether the network and broader system can meet demand, before approvals are granted. But there are no specific policies from the Victorian government addressing data centre water consumption. Dr Gordon said data centres should be required to use recycled or non-drinking water, and their large footprints made them an "ideal candidate" to capture, store and use rainwater. "Often they'll be quite large structures, so there would be the capacity to catch fairly significant amounts of rainwater from that, before drawing on potable mains [drinking] water," Dr Gordon said. In a statement to the ABC, Greater Western Water said it was exploring options that would allow them to sustainably support data centre development. "Large water users, such as data centres, are assessed against Melbourne's water supplies, growing population, changing economic needs and drying climate," Greater Western Water's general manager of strategy and partnerships Kessia Thomson said. "We're working with other water corporations and the data centres to better understand the amount of water they expect to use on an annual basis and support them to minimise their water usage while looking at supply alternatives such as recycled water." In its 2025 Annual Water Outlook, Melbourne Water stated that, on average, inflows into Melbourne's water storages were "not enough to supply our city's growing population". Victoria's desalination plant, which supplies up to 150 gigalitres of water a year, provides a crucial buffer against dry conditions. But Tim Fletcher said it was not a sustainable option due to its large energy consumption — particularly when compared to stormwater harvesting, which could collect about 280 gigalitres of excess run-off every year. He warned that failing to take action now to shore up Melbourne's long-term water resilience could lead to the government making "rushed decisions" in the future. He also said data centres could cause stress on local water infrastructure. Proposed water usage for each data centre was obtained from the FOI documents. In the 2023-24 financial year, the average daily water use of Melburnians was 163 litres per person, per day, according to Melbourne Water. This figure was used to calculate the equivalent usage of Melburnians. "These data centres are not just using very large volumes of water, but high rates of flow," Professor Fletcher said. "A pipe has a capacity to deliver a certain flow rate, and if you want to go above that, you either need to increase the pressure — which means you'll start having damage in the network — or you need to increase the pipe sizes." Melbourne's west is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. It's also one of the most targeted by data centres due to its abundance of affordable land. In comparison to Greater Western Water's 19 applications, Yarra Valley Water, which provides water to 2 million residents in Melbourne's north and east, is reviewing just seven applications from data centres. South East Water, which extends down Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, has received two preliminary requests in the last 12 months. Last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that data centres threatened to delay the construction of thousands of new homes in Sydney's Macquarie Park due to the strain on the area's water supply. The National Growth Areas Alliance, which represents local governments in outer suburban areas, said it was concerned Melbourne's west could follow a similar path. "It's not just the water consumption, but also the infrastructure needed to deliver that water, and the priority that [data centres] may be given over residential development, where Australia's real need is at the moment," Bronwen Clark, National Growth Areas Alliance CEO, said. There are currently more than 200 data centres across Australia. Property consultancy firm Knight Frank's 2025 Global Data Centres Report stated Australia was second only to the US as a top data centre investment location. The report also specifically identified Melbourne as a key hub due to its power and land availability, as well as a "more proactive" approach to approving data centre applications when compared to Sydney. Victoria has already attracted data centre investment from Amazon and Microsoft, and in June, the state government, alongside tech company NextDC, announced the development of a new data centre in Fishermans Bend, having invested $180 million into the $2 billion digital hub. A spokesperson for NextDC, which has multiple data centres in Melbourne, said the company had incorporated stormwater retention basins, vegetated swales, buffer strips and rain gardens in some of its sites, and the Fishermans Bend facility would comply with all water licensing requirements. "Water plays a crucial role as the primary medium for heat transfer in and out of the data halls, requiring significant infrastructure and planning," a NextDC spokesperson said. "We optimise water use through reuse, recycling and recovery, aiming to reduce our water dependency and environmental impact in the short and long-term." A Victorian government spokesperson said it was supporting data centre investment to create jobs and support the economy, while balancing water and energy resources. "All data centres have different water and energy needs and companies are getting smarter about how they can save energy and water," the spokesperson said. "This includes adopting new cooling technology and smarter software to use less energy and water overall." Dr Gordon said he understood why governments wanted to incentivise the data centre industry in Australia's cities, in order to generate economic growth. But he said they needed to think clearly about the potential long-term ramifications. "It's this trade-off between jobs and economic growth, and the impact on the environment," Dr Gordon said. "And the environment is the one that usually loses out."
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
More of England expected to enter drought status after hottest June on record
As many as five areas of England are expected to go into drought this summer after the hottest June since records began 1884. Three heatwaves, which tend to increase water consumption, combined with a lack of rain means that large swathes of England are heading towards drought status and the damage to the environment that entails. Officials from the Met Office and Environment Agency told journalists in a briefing that they expected more hosepipe bans to be enacted across the country this summer. Richard Thompson, the deputy director for water resources at the EA, said the agency had been pressing water companies to enact their drought plans, including hosepipe bans. He confirmed that more regions were expected to enter drought status and the affected regions would be confirmed on Tuesday. Thames Water on Monday announced a hosepipe ban for households in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire. Yorkshire Water and South East Water have already put temporary use bans in place. Yorkshire and the north-west of England are officially in drought status while the north-east, East Midlands, West Midlands and much of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey are in prolonged dry weather status, the level below drought. Water companies have been in preliminary discussions with the EA about drought permits, the officials added. These permits allow water companies, in exceptional circumstances, to extract more water from the environment than they would usually be allowed to. The EA tries to avoid granting these permits because it can severely damage rivers and other aquatic environments, particularly when river flows are already low. Martin Salter, the head of policy at the Angling Trust, said: 'Water resource planning in the UK has been wholly inadequate for generations with no serious provision made for the impacts of climate change and population growth. Reservoir building has been minimal and leakage rates are still far too high and as a result it is always the environment that suffers. Hosepipe bans right now are obviously necessary but the problem goes far deeper than a bit of short term tinkering while our rivers suffocate and wildlife dies.' No major reservoirs have been completed in England since 1992, shortly after the water sector was privatised, and water companies leak about 3bn litres a day through faulty pipes. A landmark report from the Met Office has found searingly hot days and devastatingly heavy rainfall are happening at increasing frequency as a result of climate breakdown. Farmers have been banned from abstracting water to irrigate their crops and the grass has dried up in many areas, meaning they are having to use winter feed for their livestock. Stuart Sampson, a water resources manager at the EA, said the dry spring meant farmers started irrigating their crops early and had used up their abstraction licences for the year. He added that root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and onions were likely to suffer as a result of the drought. There have also been many fish die offs as river flows are exceptionally low, with low oxygen levels meaning fish suffocate. The warm conditions have caused harmful algal blooms on rivers and lakes across England and the reservoirs that feed canals are in their worst state for 20 years, he added. Lucy Barker, a senior hydrological analyst at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said rivers were as low as they had been in some of the country's worst droughts. She added: 'The exceptionally dry weather of the spring continued in the east of Britain in June, and has resulted in some exceptionally low flows, many of which are similar to – or lower than – those seen in droughts like 1976, 2018 and 2022. Although the wet weather in June has led to some recovery in river flows and soil moisture levels in the west, this is unlikely to have eradicated the long-term deficits that have been established since the start of year, if not in late 2024 in some places.'
CNET
01-07-2025
- Health
- CNET
Conquering Summer Hydration: How Much Water Do You Actually Need?
Summer isn't playing around and with the hot weather lately, and many people are still seeking outdoor activities. Spending so much time out in the sun means that you need to be more aware of your water bottle and general water consumption. You'll be sweating a lot more during these months, so the risk of dehydration is high. But exactly how much water should you be drinking in the first place? Is there sound advice in following the "eight glasses a day" trick or is that a hydration myth? To determine what our water consumption should look like this summer, we consulted with a registered dietitian. Renee Fitton, registered dietitian and director of education at L-Nutra, a nutrition technology company, explained that while you can use specific guidelines, it's better to focus on straightforward habits to help you get more water into your daily routine in general. "The 8x8 rule can be a bit oversimplified for some but it's also not necessarily dangerous." How much water should you drink every day? Fitton says various factors affect the amount of water one needs daily, including body size, medications, gender, physical activity, climate, health status and altitude. Most of us are also familiar with the old adage: Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. The eight-by-eight rule advises us to drink 64 ounces (approximately 1.9 liters) of water daily. Many of us have blindly followed this advice for our entire lives, without knowing its origin or the rationale behind the recommendation to drink eight glasses of water. Getty Images Apparently, the eight-by-eight rule came out of a void, because there's no scientific evidence to back it up. It's just another of those long-standing myths people believe because that's what everyone believes. Drinking 64 ounces of water daily isn't bad but it could be too much or not enough for some people. "For some people, simple rules like these help them stay on track. If drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day helps someone hit their hydration goals, then it's a fine starting point. But I wouldn't call it the gold standard," says Fitton. Other guidelines exist but there's still no true consensus. There's no formal recommendation for how much water people should drink daily, perhaps because everyone needs different amounts of water. An "adequate intake" of water for adult men and women does exist but it can vary from person to person. This adequate intake includes water from non-water beverages, such as milk, sports drinks, tea and yes, even coffee. It also includes water from fruits, vegetables and other foods (think of how much water goes into a bowl of oats or soup). The adequate intake is 15.5 cups (3.7 liters or 125 ounces) for average men and 11.5 cups (2.7 liters or 91 ounces) for average women. How you choose to consume these 125 or 91 ounces of fluid is up to you. Although this is the closest figure we have to a recommended daily intake, even these numbers differ for each person based on their health condition. Reasons why you may need to drink more water Getty Images You have an active job: Those on the go all day (especially folks who work outdoors) may need more water than most people. The more you move, the more you sweat, and you should replace lost water (and electrolytes) through fluid intake. If you are working outside during a heat wave, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends drinking 8 ounces (1 cup) of water every 15 to 20 minutes during work. Drinking water before and after work can help prevent dehydration. You exercise often: If you don't have an active job but you do exercise a lot -- whether in the gym or through recreational activities -- you also need more water than most. Even if you don't realize it, you lose a lot of fluids during physical activity (even in cold weather). Up your water intake to account for activity (especially travel activity). You live in a hot climate: Hot weather means increased sweating and replacing the lost fluid is important. Dryness compounds fluid loss in hot weather -- people in desert climates may need more water than those in tropical climates. You're pregnant or breastfeeding: Pregnant women need more water to encourage improved circulation, increased calorie intake and other physiological processes that support their baby's growth. Breastfeeding women need extra water to support breast milk production. Your urine is dark in color: The color of your urine can tell you a lot about your hydration levels. "The color of your urine is the best and most personalized, consistent and immediate way to measure hydration throughout the day. We want to look for light yellow pee, not fully clear (over-hydrated) but also not deep yellow or amber (under-hydrated)," says Fitton. You have a dry mouth, chapped lips or muscle cramps: Yep, when you are dehydrated your body will let you know. "Water is such a critical substance for life so when we're lacking, our body will no longer work at its peak capacity and this can persist in many ways and uniquely from one person to another," Fitton says. Hydration hacks to help you drink more water Getty Images Different people follow different rules for hydrating. These four common guidelines can help you stay hydrated no matter your lifestyle. Drink when you're thirsty There's some controversy surrounding this method. Some health professionals say you shouldn't overcomplicate hydration and your body tells you when it needs water. Others say waiting until you're thirsty is waiting too long -- that you're already dehydrated when you feel thirsty. Some people seem to have stronger thirst mechanisms than others so this method may not work for you. Drink a glass before meals and between meals This isn't bad advice. Structuring water intake around a ritual like mealtime can ingrain hydration as a habit. Your total water intake will vary depending on how many meals you eat. If you eat three meals, you'll drink five glasses of water according to this rule, which may not be enough (unless they're big glasses). This rule probably won't work for you if you don't have a routine eating pattern. Drink eight glasses daily Generic health advice rarely works for everyone. If you feel adequately hydrated on 64 ounces of water each day, then that amount is likely sufficient to keep you hydrated. If you feel overly hydrated (clear urine, very frequent urination or swelling), cut back slightly. If you feel dehydrated (dark urine, headaches, infrequent urination, lightheaded or fatigue), eight glasses may not be enough for you. Drink half your body weight in ounces This is a simple guideline that's easy to remember and usually easy to achieve. If you weigh 150 pounds, aim to drink 75 ounces of water each day. This is the only rule of thumb that accounts for different body sizes but it doesn't account for thirst, climate, activity level or other factors. Make water visible and accessible Fitton says that keeping your water accessible at all times provides a visual reminder to drink water. She also recommends using an app like WaterMinder that sends daily reminders to drink water. Pair your water intake with your daily habits Another great way to get your daily water intake is to make drinking water part of your daily habits. This can look like drinking water right when you wake up, after eating a meal or right before you leave the house. "These mini habits build on things you already do, so you're not trying to remember to do something new. The more you tie hydration into your daily routine, the easier it becomes," says Fitton. Experiment with hydration techniques to find what works for you. As long as you're not battling chronic fatigue, lightheadedness, headaches or other signs of dehydration, you are probably doing a pretty good job. As a failsafe, you can always determine whether you are under or overhydrated based on the color of your urine.
