TOI Water Summit 2025: Solar-powered water supply, tech integration driving clean water access in UP, says Anurag Srivastava

The new Audi Q5 family is produced at the Audi plant in San José Chiapa, Mexico. As the electrification of the PPC portfolio progresses, the partially electrified plug-in hybrid variants will also be produced there later. As part of its "360factory" production strategy, Audi places a strong focus on sustainability, among other things. The plant in San José Chiapa is characterized by resource-efficient production and serves as a model for sustainable water use. Audi México is also on the home stretch to achieving net-zero carbon production. The site is the first automotive plant worldwide to be certified according to the standards of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) for its efficient water management. This certification is the result of many measures for the sustainable use of water. This includes a reverse osmosis system and the collection of rainwater in a dedicated lagoon. In total, the plant saves 150,000 cubic meters of water annually, equivalent to 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Thanks to efficient waste management, the recycling rate for waste generated at the plant is more than 90 percent. In addition to recycling, for example, metal scrap from the press shop, the site also consistently avoids plastic waste in component packaging. Here, on-site experts have developed alternatives to the usual plastic packaging to minimize the use of disposable materials.