The data centre resilience challenge nobody’s talking about

How resilient are the data centres we already depend on if their water supply is disrupted?

This is no small issue. According to Statista there are now over 12,000 data centres worldwide. Over a third of them, more than 4,700, are in the US, and the second highest concentration is here in the UK where there are currently an estimated 568 facilities.

While it’s plans for new AI data centres that grab the headlines and attention, it’s these existing facilities that power so much of how we live.

Messaging, banking, streaming entertainment, e-mail, web browsing, cloud storage, medical records, online retail, media and on and on. So much simply can’t happen without those data centres working away on our behalf, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. According to a UK House of Commons research briefing from earlier this year, trade body techUK has noted that the resilience status of this vital part of our digital world is simply unknown. Or in some instances they say, the anecdotal evidence “particularly from the public sector, is not encouraging.”

No two data centres are the same, but one issue they all have to manage is what to do with all the heat their rows and rows of servers generate. Not all use water-based coolant systems, but many do, either exclusively or as part of a hybrid system.

Exact numbers aren’t available but Water UK has estimated that datacentres in England use 6.6m litres of drinking water every day.

If that water supply to a centre’s cooling system fails, the costs can be substantial. US-based global digital infrastructure authority Uptime Institute tracks outages and their associated costs every year.

Their most recent survey, from 2025, found that 57% of respondents said their most recent major outage cost more than $100,000, with 20% reporting costs in excess of $1 million. In addition to the business costs there are growing regulatory and reputational issues. In June the UK government announced it will expand its Network and Information Systems Regulations to include data centres.

This change will place new regulatory duties on data centres to have appropriate and proportionate operational resilience measures and compel them to report any significant incidents.

In short, the need to have measures in place to meet these requirements and avoid costly and damaging shutdowns has never been greater. That is where Water Direct’s WaterTight comes in, an assured water resilience service for operationally critical sites such as data centres.

WaterTight customers receive site-specific water resilience assessments and contingency planning. Guaranteed emergency supply response in as little as four hours, and 24/7 specialist incident support.

A growing number of UK data centres are already signed up to WaterTight’s unique service, giving them peace of mind that if the unexpected happens and their water supply is interrupted, their businesses and reputations won’t be.