Jacobs Recognized at 2024 Global Water Awards

Every year the Global Water Awards celebrate excellence in the global water industry, recognizing companies, projects and initiatives that are moving the industry forward. This year the awards ceremony took place on April 16, 2024 at the Global Water Summit in London.

Jacobs was well represented with projects it led and supported for our clients being recognized in several awards categories.

Received Distinction Award for Smart Water Project of the Year: Lahaina Fire Emergency Sewer Assessments Using Dragonfly

The Hawai’i wildfires in August 2023 devastated the island of Maui, killing at least 100 people and destroying over 2,200 buildings in the town of Lahaina. Recovery efforts following the Lahaina fire included the use of Jacobs’ AI-powered condition assessment tool Dragonfly to assess the condition of sewer infrastructure assets that may have been damaged by the fire.

The collection system's CCTV inspections were optimized and improved using Dragonfly. A Jacobs Digital OneWater solution, Dragonfly is a web-based, cloud-hosted system jointly developed with Hitachi that integrates AI for enhanced condition assessment and guidance. The platform facilitates efficient analysis of inspection videos, enabling the identification and coding of pipeline defects.

Rapid and comprehensive assessments provided essential data for Maui County’s recovery strategy, identifying defects that were leading to critical infiltration into the sewer network. Infiltration dilutes raw sewage and affects treatment capabilities at the county’s wastewater treatment plant – and limits the ability to bring service areas back online. The use of Dragonfly helped the county to strategically plan its rehabilitation and restoration work and identify areas that were ready for residents to return. The Maui Fire recovery team includes staff from the county and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who commended our collaborative efforts and the application of our AI technology in this project. The Lahaina fire tested and showcased Maui's robust recovery capabilities and highlighted the role that digital technologies can play in accelerating emergency response.

Winner of Wastewater Project of the Year: Changi Water Reclamation Plant Phase II Expansion 

Singapore PUB’s Changi WRP (CWRP) treats over 60% of used water in Singapore and is one of the largest water reclamation plants in the world. CWRP is key to Singapore PUB’s One Water approach to management of the nation’s water supply, which is highly circular.

The CWRP Phase II Expansion increases the average treatment capacity by 200 million liters per day (MLD), or around 44 million gallons per day (MGD), through the addition of a fifth treatment train and separate wet weather facility (WWF). 

A key aspect of CWRP Phase II is the incorporation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology to provide a higher quality feedstock for the production of NEWater. To date, NEWater production has relied on secondary effluent as feedstock requiring a microfiltration stage ahead of reverse osmosis (RO) and ultraviolet (UV) treatment. The higher quality of MBR filtrate improves RO membrane life and the MBR-based used water treatment train produces less biosolids than a conventional activated sludge plant. Accordingly, the used water treatment and NEWater processes are truly integrated. No longer is NEWater seen as a bolt on process to the activated sludge process.

The design of CWRP Phase II was implemented using 3D, 4D and 5D Building Information Modeling (BIM) to assist in competitive tendering, completion of detailed design, operator review, safety assessment, construction scheduling and site management. 

A high degree of automation integrates the operation of the overall CWRP and the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) to optimize tunnel flow and level. During design, PUB and Jacobs analyzed historic and future flows and tunnel levels and leveraged operator experience in tunnel management to develop a control strategy that optimizes the flow to treatment for NEWater. This knowledge helped to optimize the capacity of the WWF.

Jacobs was PUB’s consultant for the study, design and supervision of construction, testing and commissioning of CWRP Phase II. 

Our clients were also recognized for projects that Jacobs supported. Singapore PUB’s Jurong Island Desalination Plant received the Distinction Award for the Desalination Project of the Year, and Intel’s water conservation work was also recognized with a Distinction Award for  Water Stewardship Project of the Year. Read more about our work supporting desalination plants in Singapore and semiconductor fabrication facilities for Intel.