{"slug": "the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage", "title": "The truth about UK data centre water usage", "summary": "Sky News Technology Correspondent Rowland Manthorpe has been investigating data centre water usage in the UK, clarifying misconceptions about the industry's consumption. The YIMBY Pod episode also features a discussion on robotaxi congestion, with host James pitching a solution to the problem.", "body_md": "# The truth about UK data centre water usage\n\n### Plus James's pitch for fixing robotaxi congestion\n\nOn * YIMBY Pod* this week:\n\nJames pitches Martin on an idea he has had to solve the problem of congestion caused by robotaxis.\n\nAnd we speak to Sky News Technology Correspondent\n\n**Rowland Manthorpe**, who has been reporting on the data centre water usage controversy – and has been figuring out what the situation is here in the UK.\n\nRowland’s Substack piece on AI water usage is [here](https://rowlandmanthorpe.substack.com/p/data-centres-dont-use-that-much-water), and he made a fantastic video about it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbka90zw_Lg&pp=ygUacm93bGFuZCBtYW50aG9ycGUgYWkgd2F0ZXI%3D). The film he mentioned on ‘A machine to watch the world’ is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv4TPm7P424).\n\nJames picking a fight with half of the internet over robotaxis is [here](https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-hellscape-no-problem).\n\nMartin’s piece on ‘picky bits’ and national decline is [here](https://martinrobbins.substack.com/p/on-picky-bits-and-national-decline), and his YouTube channel is [here](https://www.youtube.com/@MFRobbins).\n\n*Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!*\n\n**YIMBY Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Substack and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage", "canonical_source": "https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water", "published_at": "2026-07-13 06:01:53+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-13 07:23:46.006782+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Rowland Manthorpe", "Sky News", "YIMBY Pod", "James", "Martin"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-truth-about-uk-data-centre-water-usage.jsonld"}}