Apple Earns Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard Certification at Prineville, Oregon Data Center Site

MILWAUKEE, Wis., March 22, 2021 /3BL Media/ — The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) North America today announced Apple earned AWS Standard certification at its Prineville, Oregon data center. Apple is the first company in the world to certify a data center to the AWS Standard, a milestone achieved by protecting shared water resources through continual improvement in the Standard’s five outcomes of good water stewardship: water governance, water balance, water quality, Important Water-Related Areas, and safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Apple’s Prineville data center is located in the high desert of Central Oregon. To align the site’s water stewardship efforts to the water context in which it operates, Apple’s Prineville data center, supported by the company’s U.S.-based sustainability team, used the AWS Standard as a framework to benchmark the data center’s current water stewardship program against criteria outlined in the AWS Standard. The AWS Standard provided context to develop and implement a site-specific water stewardship plan, which guides future water-related decisions and strengthens existing efforts.

The AWS Standard certification verifies that the Apple Prineville data center is operating to a water stewardship plan that includes context-based objectives and targets, ensuring a process for understanding and mitigating shared water challenges and water risks at the local level. 

“Apple is proud to be the first company to reach AWS Standard certification at our Prineville data center and the new approaches we’ve taken at the site, both to improve our water use efficiency and to uphold water quality for the region,” said Todd Flack, site manager for Apple’s Prineville data center. “We’re grateful for our partnership with the Alliance for Water Stewardship and community stakeholders to reach this milestone.” 

“From being the first to certify a data center to the AWS Standard to its contributions as a member of our organization, time and again Apple has demonstrated its commitment to leading the way on water stewardship in its value chain,” said Matt Howard, director at the Alliance for Water Stewardship North America. “The company’s actions at the Prineville site to improve water efficiency and water quality outcomes in the catchment and implement risk mitigation strategies are commendable, and we hope this sets a trend for the data center sub-sector.”

"Apple’s investment in Prineville has benefited our community in many ways, but we’re especially grateful for their commitment to protecting the local environment,” says Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe. “We have witnessed this through the city’s partnership with Apple on projects including the aquifer storage and recovery system and the data center certification to the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard, and are glad to have their support in addressing the shared water challenges in our region.”