UK Advice to Delete Emails for Water Conservation Draws Backlash

The UK government is facing backlash about the water conservation tip because storing an email in a data centre for a month only uses about one-thousandth of a millilitre of water.

Britons are being urged to delete their old emails and pictures to help conserve water amid the current heatwave. Official government advice says that this will help reduce pressure on the water environment because “data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.”

The advice was part of a list of water-saving tips for the home, which also included fixing leaking toilets, turning off taps while brushing your teeth, and taking shorter showers. According to the National Drought Group, which includes the Met Office, government, regulators, and water companies, the UK’s water shortage is now a “nationally significant incident.”

The country has just endured its hottest six-month spell since 1976, with July ...