How Qualcomm Is Assessing and Managing Its Water Footprint

As published in Qualcomm's 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

As water sources around the world become increasingly stressed, we are acutely aware of the need to treat water as the precious resource it is. We prioritize assessing our water footprint and conserving water, particularly in California, the location of our headquarters and a state perennially challenged by water scarcity.

In our facilities, we make our greatest gains in water conservation by using reclaimed water instead of potable water for irrigation and our cooling plant systems, whenever possible. In fact, we decreased our freshwater dependency at our San Diego headquarters by 51 percent from 2016 to 2022 by expanding our recycled water system. These improvements help reduce our dependency on potable water and increase resiliency in our operations.

At our manufacturing facilities, we conduct water audits to assess usage and share best practices between our locations. Additionally, we also have an internal price for water that makes the real cost of water usage and water treatment transparent and evident. This facilitates a strong motivation to develop cost-effective and water-efficient processes.

At our Singapore manufacturing facility, we implemented numerous water savings projects in 2022, resulting in more than 200,000 cumulative cubic meters (m3 ) of annual water savings. For example, we conducted a utilization study to determine opportunities for system integration and enhancement, resulting in an improvement of our deionized (DI) water supply systems, which has increased the amount of reclaimed water by approximately 80,000 m3 per year. We also replaced our water plant electrodeionization (EDI) system with a continuous electrodeionization (CEDI) system, allowing for water to be recycled into raw water tanks, saving approximately 30,000 m3 per year.

Learn more in Qualcomm's 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report