Apple recycled water project for Cupertino & Campus 2 approved amid California drought concerns

A $17.5 million project led and partly funded by Apple to increase the use of recycled water in Sunnyvale and Cupertino has been approved by city officials.

Mercury News reports that the Santa Clara Valley Water District has given the project the go ahead this week which will see the city of Sunnyvale, Apple and the California Water Service Company work together to lay 13,300 feet of pipeline to bring recycled water into Sunnyvale and Apple’s new campus in Cupertino:

Apple catalyzed talks among the various water stakeholders in the area, making plain its desire to use recycled water on its new campus, said Katherine Oven, deputy operating officer of the water district… ”Apple drove this project,” she said. “It really is a true partnership of both public and private agencies.”

The recycled water project would begin construction in August and is expected to be operational by October 2016, shortly before the end of next year when Apple plans to wrap up construction on its new Campus 2 project. Today’s report notes that Apple will contribute $4.8 million to the project and expects to use around 3% of the new pipeline’s total capacity:

About 3 percent of the pipeline’s capacity will be devoted to Apple, which is the only company so far that has committed to the project, Butler said. The company is contributing $4.8 million to the project, with the rest of the more than $17 million tab footed by the city of Sunnyvale, the California Water Service Company, the Department of Water Resources and the water district… More than 157,000 gallons of recycled water will flow to Apple’s new campus under the proposed project, Cal Water announced in February.

We’ve been tracking construction progress in our Apple Campus 2 timeline with the latest official aerial shots from Apple, drone flyovers, and news surrounding the project.