UK government advises deleting emails to save water

> "Water companies must continue to quickly fix leaks and lead the way in saving water. We know the challenges farmers are facing and will continue to work with them, other land users, and businesses to ensure everyone acts sustainably.

> 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."

Watch how the bait and switch operates. The privatized water companies are (a) bankrupt and (b) leaking hundreds of millions of liters of water (figures quoted in the 500m - 600m region for Thames Water). However, this is politically difficult to fix because it requires the government to do something and maybe even spend some money. So they put out a statement which implies that ordinary people could do something to help, even if it's literally a drop in the bucket.

see https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity...

This assumes water is inconsistent. Once the rain butt is full, there's no more benefit. And then in a long dry season once it's emptied, it's not saving any more.

> Fix a leaking toilet – leaky loos can waste 200-400 litres a day.

If you're on a water meter you're already incentivised to fix this - so a better answer is water meters.

> Use water from the kitchen to water your plants.

Assuming you're using waste water, which most people won't.

> Avoid watering your lawn – brown grass will grow back healthy.

Households with lawns are rarer than they used to be - a big red flag has always been that hosepipe bans never applies to golf courses which use a large amount of water to keep their grass green all year.

> Turn off the taps when brushing teeth or shaving.

A few minutes of water p/person per day.

> Take shorter showers.

Probably minimal and potentially a hygiene problem.

> Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.

Negligible at best.

Most of the issue though is the water companies funnelling revenue to shareholders and not maintaining the network, so they lose an awful lot of water through leaking pipes.

The privatisation of critical utilities and infrastructure was such a stupid move.

That said, the recommendation is nonsense, emails and photos make up a tiny fraction of the cooling requirements for data centres.