Ministers are exploring options to increase the price of water for some users as the UK faces severe supply shortages. This summer, almost three-quarters of England and all of Wales have been in drought, leading to water use restrictions for 27 million people.
Helen Wakeham, the Environment Agency's director of water, stated that the value of water needs to increase to address a growing supply gap. She noted that industrial customers currently pay less per litre the more water they use, unlike households which are experiencing record water bills.
The Environment Agency is looking into the value of water and the abstraction licensing system at the request of ministers. Wakeham suggested this could lead to water becoming more expensive for industrial users, as current low prices often result in poor water management.
Concerns have also been raised about water-hungry data centres, particularly with the government's ambition to triple data centre capacity by 2030. Water UK, representing the industry, warned that the UK would not have enough water for future data centres, estimating that data centres in England currently use 6.6 million litres of drinking water daily.