Climate change, increasing global population, and polluting human practices underscore the reality that water is a precious and limited resource. With headquarter offices in drought-prone northern California, Cisco has always been conscientious about water use in our operations. Key objectives of Cisco's water management program are to:
Identify and respond to site-level water conservation opportunities for our operations
Work with partners such as local governments, water utilities, and owners of our leased buildings to pursue and replicate best practices in our operations and beyond
Program Highlights
In FY09 we began to lay the groundwork for the development of a Global Water Management System. Water use is currently tracked by some campuses, with each local site owning its information. Using our GHG emissions tracking system as a model, we are developing a robust and standardized reporting system for collecting water data, measuring impacts, and designing a global water strategy.
In FY09, Cisco selected 11 of our largest sites, representing 61 percent of employees, for a study of water usages and local water availability. Total water consumption for the sites in FY09 was 1,654,030 m3 and reflected an increase over FY08 due to expansion of Cisco's San Jose campus.
Cisco landscaping was a focus area for reducing water consumption in FY09. Key activities at our San Jose campus included using recycled water, installing irrigation controls, changing groundcover, and taking fountains offline or converting them to landscaped beds with California native and drought resistant plants.
Cisco proactively mitigates impacts in water-scarce areas by incorporating resource constraints into our local office building and data center development plans.
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