Public urged to delete old emails in an attempt to save water

The Environment Agency has advised the UK public to delete their old emails in order to save water amid the current drought.

The British public has been urged to delete their old emails to save water.

The Environment Agency has explained how people should clear unwanted messages from their inbox if they wish to reduce water usage during the current drought.

This year has seen the driest six months to July since 1976 in the UK and the current water shortfall in England has been described as a “nationally significant incident”.

Along with more conventional methods of saving water – such as taking shorter showers, using rainwater stored in butts for watering plants and cutting hosepipe use – the government agency has drawn attention to the enormous demands that data storage places on utilities.

Emails and photos stored on the cloud are maintained by large data centres and require huge amounts of water to keep cool.

An Oxford University study revealed that a small one megawatt data centre uses around 26 million litres of water a year.

Helen Wakeham, the Environment Agency’s Director of Water and National Drought Group chair, said: “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.

“We are grateful to the public for following the restrictions, where in place, to conserve water in these dry conditions. Simple, everyday choices – such as turning off a tap or deleting old emails – also really helps the collective effort to reduce demand and help preserve the health of our rivers and wildlife.”

The advice comes amid hot weather in the UK and the dry conditions are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Dr. Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “This week is starting off warmer than of late across England Wales with temperatures getting towards the mid-30s for some in the south.

“While conditions remain mostly settled across the south, the picture is more unsettled further northwest, with rain or showers at times.

“As we move into the second half of August, there are indications of high pressure building and therefore largely settled conditions overall. Although dry weather is more likely, rain, showers or thunderstorms cannot be ruled out.”