Water connects us all – and it affects us all. It shapes our lives, our communities, our ecosystems and the Earth’s climate.
It’s an essential resource we all share, and yet there are many people around the world who still lack access to safe, clean and reliable water and sanitation services.
Every year on March 22, we proudly join the United Nations and organizations worldwide to celebrate World Water Day and promote the importance of clean water and sanitation services.
One way we mark the occasion is through our annual Water For People Employee Giving Campaign. For more than 30 years, we’ve partnered with Water for People – a non-profit organization that promotes safe, reliable and sustainable water and sanitation services through partnerships with local governments and communities. Thanks to the generosity of Jacobs employees, we’ve donated more than $5 million and thousands of volunteer hours to support Water for People’s mission.
Every day we’re helping clients across the world with transformative infrastructure initiatives that improve water and sanitation services. We proudly serve over 12 million people as operators of water and wastewater systems and facilities.
We work with organizations like the US Water Alliance to advance sustainable water solutions. The Alliance, through its role as a federally-funded Environmental Finance Center, selected Jacobs as an approved resource to provide technical assistance to address drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure challenges in the U.S. We’re also working with US Water Alliance as part of a project funded by The Water Research Foundation to develop an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework for water utilities.
At Jacobs, we recognize that all water has value. With a OneWater mindset, we look beyond traditional labels – fresh water, seawater, wastewater, stormwater – to view all water as a valuable and interconnected resource. We understand that solving the world’s complex water challenges requires a holistic, integrated approach – and that the solutions we bring forward must be sustainable, inclusive and equitable.
Explore some of our recent work in the global water sector
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Jacobs Strengthens Operations and Maintenance Foothold in US
Jacobs was awarded a five-year contract by the Town of Southbridge, Massachusetts, to operate and maintain the town’s wastewater facilities. Learn how the new partnership will improve the reliability, operability and performance of critical infrastructure.
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Jacobs to Design Florida Water Treatment Plant Upgrades for PFAS Removal
Jacobs was selected by the City of Boynton Beach in South Florida to evaluate and design upgrades at two water treatment plants to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the city’s groundwater supplies to comply with new U.S. federal drinking water regulations.
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Jacobs Awarded Contract for Metro Vancouver Critical Water Program
Jacobs was selected by Metro Vancouver, a regional district in British Columbia, Canada to provide program management services for the Coquitlam Lake Water Supply Project. The project will expand capacity for accessing, treating and distributing water from Coquitlam Lake, the region’s largest drinking water source, while increasing the system’s resilience to climate change.
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Jacobs to Manage Inland Empire Utilities Agency Recycled Water Program Expansion
Jacobs was selected by Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) in California to provide program management, owners engineering services, and strategic funding advisory services for a major regional water management program that will incorporate indirect potable reuse to create a more sustainable, drought-resilient local water supply in the Chino Basin—one of the largest groundwater storage basins in southern California.
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Jacobs to Develop ESG Framework for Water Utilities
Jacobs is leading a project funded by The Water Research Foundation that will help water utilities navigate complex environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities. Read more about this collaborative research.
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Jacobs and Mott MacDonald Appointed Technical Partner by Thames Water in the UK
Jacobs and Mott MacDonald have been selected by Thames Water, the U.K.’s largest water and waste utility, as technical partner to support delivery of the water company's $5.9 billion (£4.7B) future asset investment programs under its Strategic Resource Option (SRO) framework.
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Supporting Communities in Partnership with the US Water Alliance
In its role as a National Environmental Finance Center, the US Water Alliance provides technical assistance to communities working to solve pressing stormwater, drinking water, and wastewater infrastructure challenges. Read how we’re working with the Alliance to connect federal funds to the communities and utility organizations that need it most.
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Houston Northeast Water Purification Plant Expansion Project
The Houston Waterworks Team is delivering the largest progressive design-build water project in the U.S., creating a more sustainable water supply and supporting future growth in the City of Houston.
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Anglian Water Strategic Pipeline Alliance
How do you create a reliable, clean source of potable water supply to the driest part of the U.K. that is forecast to have a supply deficit? Through collaboration and innovation in the Strategic Pipeline Alliance, a ground-breaking project that sustainably delivers a new water main network - hundreds of kilometers of interconnected pipelines - together with associated pumping stations and storage.
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Jacobs Awarded Connecticut Water Treatment Plant Contract
Jacobs was selected to operate and maintain The City of Waterbury, Connecticut's 38 million gallon-per-day (mgd) conventional surface water treatment plant. The City estimates the ten-year contract value at $25 million inclusive of engineering services and support for improvements to the overall facility, sludge system, water quality lab and treatment process.
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Jacobs to Support Design, Construction and Operations for Seawater Desalination Plant
Jacobs was selected by Water Corporation, the largest water utility in Western Australia, to design, build, operate and maintain the Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant in Perth, Australia. The project, part of an alliance with Water Corporation and ACCIONA, is expected to produce 13 billion gallons (50 billion liters) of drinking water per year, scalable up to 26 billion gallons (100 billion liters) under a future project.