Amazon has recently announced that they are now water positive in India. This news means the company now returns more water to communities than it uses across its direct operations, including corporate offices, data centres and fulfilment centres.
The milestone arrives ahead of the company’s original 2027 target and marks a step towards its broader global water stewardship strategy.
The achievement is noteworthy in a country facing acute water stress. India holds 18% of the world’s population but only 4% of its freshwater resources.
The company’s approach rests on three pillars: reducing water use, reusing water through treatment and harvesting systems, and replenishing water in stressed communities.
By comparing water returned through these initiatives against water withdrawn for operations, the company says it returned 120% of the water it used in 2025, with progress verified through internal and third-party audits.
“Water is fundamental to the communities where we operate, and we recognise both the scale of India’s water challenge and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference”, stated Abhinav Singh, Amazon’s VP of operations for India, APAC, Middle East and Turkiye.
On the reduction side, Amazon’s data centres in India do not use water for cooling, while water use across fulfilment centres and offices is largely tied to restrooms, kitchens and drinking water, managed through low-flow fixtures and smart meters that detect leaks.
On reuse, on-site sewage treatment plants recycled an estimated 298 million litres in 2025 for flushing and irrigation, while rainwater harvesting pits collected roughly 178 million litres which went into local groundwater.
For replenishment, Amazon has committed more than $6.5 million to water stewardship projects across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi NCR, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which are expected to replenish more than 4 billion litres annually.
The work ties into Amazon Web Services’ 2022 global pledge to become water positive by 2030 across its data centre operations.
The company stated it is now 75% of the way to its goal, returning three litres for every four used in 2025.
Amazon continues to expand its footprint in India, with plans to invest more than $35 billion in the country by 2030 to boost AI capabilities and digital transformations.
Microsoft and Google have also announced significant data centre investments in India over the past year.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Amazon