I still think that much water for a data center is crazy (why wouldn't they use some form of closed-loop cooling? Or do they and they need 1-5M liters to top it off? Just seems excessive to me but I also don't know much about how data center cooling works.
The number of pipes and infrastructure that need replaced to fix that likely represents decades of work and funding.
They are end of life Victorian pipes, in a massively built up and down part of the world. It was always going to cost lots, which is why the govt privatised the problem before people realised what was involved.
Renationalising it would put up taxes for everyone in the country not just Londoners, thats why London is so expensive to live in. If labour get in, and they renationalise it, labour will be exploiting the stupidity of their voters.
Hanlon's razor, never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity except stealth Govt planning.
"the amount of power needed to run data centers on a global scale, which amounts to 416 terawatts, or approximately 3% of all electricity generated on Earth."
"Making massive-scale changes to data center operations to enhance the efficiency of energy usage can be a complex, costly, and time-consuming venture. But changes don’t have to be extreme to be effective, and they don’t need to happen all at once. By utilizing the following sixteen methods, data centers can quickly start to efficiently lower their power usage without significantly impacting their bottom line."
More at the link for a more detailed explanation.
Personally I think this is Thames water looking to shake down the IT sector. Good luck with that considering the brains that run the IT sector! LOL.