Apple supports World Water Day with renewed commitment to sustainable water use

Dianshan Lake in Shanghai. (Source: Apple)

Apple has used World Water Day to announce its continued commitment to existing partnerships working to increase the "efficient and safe" use of water resources.

As iPhone component suppliers work to safeguard against droughts, Apple has marked World Water Day with an announcement about its partnership with the International Alliance for Sustainable Water Management (IASWM). This organization sets standards, and certifies compliance, for companies reliant on water for their manufacturing processes.

Although a worldwide commitment, Apple has concentrated on getting its Chinese supply chain partners certified.

"We firmly believe in the power of lead by example and strive to inspire enterprises in China and beyond to push their supply chains into water resources management," said Ge Yue, vice president of Apple and managing director of Greater China, in a statement (in translation.)

"We would like to congratulate the supply chain enterprises that have recently been certified by the International Alliance for Sustainable Water Management, but we will never stop there," continued Ge Yue. "Together, we will continue to work together to create a new positive impact in the communities we operate to protect more of this valuable shared resource."

World Water Day is a United Nations programme, first held on March 22, 1993. In 2018, Apple partnered with the IASWM, and Chunhua Technology — an Apple circuit board supplier — gained its Alliance Gold certification. Many other firms have since followed.

"We are pleased to see more and more Apple supply chain companies participating in our certification programs," said the IASWM's Regional Program Director for Asia Pacific, Sustainable Water Management Alliance, Xu Yu, "which highlights the impact and strength of our partnership with Apple to promote first-class water resources management."

"Real water resources management requires collaboration and leadership," continued Xu Yu. "Apple's constantly improving standards for itself and supply chain businesses set an example for the entire industry."

Apple says its collaboration with the Alliance is part of its Clean Water program. In 2019, this project saved an estimated total of 9.3 billion gallons of freshwater worldwide. According to Apple's World Water Day announcement, that rose to 41.3 billion gallons.

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14 Comments

GeorgeBMac

said about 3 years ago

"Water management" needs to get its feet planted in reality.

Generally speaking they present water as a scarce resource that must be preserved.

But the truth is that water is scarce in some areas, over abundant in others and just fine in other areas. You cannot generalize.

On the other hand, human intervention has probably done more to create water crisis than anything: Projects on the Colorado river, the Ganges & Yellow rivers as well as on the Nile have created crisis in other, downstream areas.

Conversely, water management projects in the Pittsburgh area 100 years ago powered the industrial might of the U.S. -- as prior to a system of locks, dams and reservoirs, the rivers that fed Pittsburgh's mill could not be relied on to provide the year round transportation the mills required. Basically, they flooded in the spring and dried up in the summer. The system did not deprive any other area of their needs but did provide Pittsburgh with its needs: The Best of Both Worlds!

Water itself isn't scarce. But we do need better management of it -- and that starts with truth based reality.

tedz98

said about 3 years ago

While the focus seems to be on water consumption the other dimension is water disposal after it’s been consumed. When less water is consumed to produce goods, less water is discharged. I don’t know what’s required to achieve water certification but I hope it includes what is done with the waste water.

Fred257

said about 3 years ago

In the meantime most manufacturing by Apple done in other countries pollutes water beyond measures. It’s hypocritical

tmay

said about 3 years ago

GeorgeBMac said:

"Water management" needs to get its feet planted in reality.
Generally speaking they present water as a scarce resource that must be preserved.

But the truth is that water is scarce in some areas, over abundant in others and just fine in other areas.   You cannot generalize.

On the other hand, human intervention has probably done more to create water crisis than anything:   Projects on the Colorado river, the Ganges & Yellow rivers as well as on the Nile have created crisis in other, downstream areas.

Conversely, water management projects in the Pittsburgh area 100 years ago powered the industrial might of the U.S. -- as prior to a system of locks, dams and reservoirs, the rivers that fed Pittsburgh's mill could not be relied on to provide the year round transportation the mills required. Basically, they flooded in the spring and dried up in the summer.   The system did not deprive any other area of their needs but did provide Pittsburgh with its needs: The Best of Both Worlds!

Water itself isn't scarce. But we do need better management of it -- and that starts with truth based reality.
In the west, a significant amount of water storage is in snowpack. Meltwater from the snowpack generally allows for year round streamflows. Higher temperatures due to climate change is reducing snowpack, and that decreases streamflows. Even if you have more engineered storage, which is becoming more difficult to build, there is a reduction in inflows from streams and rivers to storage areas. This effects not only downstream needs, but all of the local ecosystems in the hydrological basins.

Case in point, the Colorado River Basin feeds Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

https://www.americanrivers.org/river/colorado-river/

The Lower Colorado River, which provides water to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Tucson, already faces a one million acre-foot deficit and is in danger of running dry far before the Pacific. Climate change is expected to further reduce the river’s flow by 10 to 30 percent by 2050.

That's actual scarcity. You provide anecdotes from a region that doe not have historic water scarcity. See the problem with your POV?

Now an argument could be made that this is all about the follies of creating agriculture in deserts, but at the same time, these regions provide year round produce to rest of the U.S., and also supports thriving economies.

For the record, I live in Nevada on the Eastern Sierra, and our current snowpack is at 60% of average, and that is a precursor to a California drought as current storage is depleted and not replaced. That's the definition of scarcity.

tedz98

said about 3 years ago

“For the record, I live in Nevada on the Eastern Sierra, and our current snowpack is at 60% of average, and that is a precursor to a California drought as current storage is depleted and not replaced. That's the definition of scarcity.” A resource is only scarce when demand exceeds supply. The population density of the arid west is putting demands on water resources that exceeds the ability of water supplies to meet demand. So before you blame climate change for reduced snow pack you need to evaluate the appropriateness of having 10’s of millions of people living in a water constrained geography.