Apple works with NGO to improve water management in India
Apple today announced a new effort to support improved water, sanitation, and hygiene outcomes in India.
The company will work with environmental NGO Frank Water to support development of an innovative, scalable approach that strengthens local water management and decision making and expands equitable access to water quality data.
What Apple said
“Some of the most powerful solutions to climate change and the global water crisis come from the communities living every day with these challenges,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives.
“By supporting innovative, community-based approaches in India and around the world, Apple is making progress toward our global climate goals while doing our part to help people improve their lives.”
What they are doing
The project aims to demonstrate how collective water stewardship, working alongside businesses, can be a model to replicate across India and beyond.
That work is beginning in Anekal taluk on the outskirts of Bengaluru, where Frank Water is surveying households and analysing multiple data sources to map how water is used in the area.
To do this, the organisation uses hydrological modelling and is developing a state-of-the-art decision support process, which puts tools in the hands of the community.
The next phase will be to work with leading experts, local organisations, businesses, and community members in the pilot area to improve collaborative decision-making around shared water resources.
Apple and the environment
Apple also continues to work with the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) to preserve mangroves along India’s coast.
Mangroves are an especially powerful nature-based solution for carbon removal, with the capacity to store up to 10 times more carbon per acre than terrestrial forests.
Since the partnership launched in 2021, local villagers signed conservation agreements that helped over 200 marginal fishing community members across Roha, Pen, and Alibaug blocks in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. Under the agreements, village members receive sustained support in exchange for conserving privately owned mangrove forests. The idea is that the mangroves are protected while the local economy gets to find new sustenance.
In India, Apple also works with the Barefoot College, which trains rural women to become solar engineers in their communities.
The supply chain thing
We know Apple is working to build up its supply chain in India. That’s why the end of Apple’s news announcement speaks volumes:
“As the company continues to deepen its work across India, Apple is taking significant action to combat climate change through partnerships with its global suppliers,” Apple said. “Already carbon neutral for its global corporate operations, Apple is laser-focused on its ambitious 2030 goal to become carbon neutral across its entire global supply chain.”
In other words, investments in infrastructure and other elements required to support a complex supply chain in a new nation seem part of the overall Apple plan for India.
