Jacobs to Operate and Maintain Advanced Water Reuse Facility in California

DALLAS -- Jacobs (NYSE:J) secured a 10-year contract with Soquel Creek Water District (SqCWD) to operate and maintain a new advanced water purification facility. The facility, part of SqCWD's Pure Water Soquel program, focuses on groundwater replenishment and seawater intrusion prevention in Santa Cruz County, California.

The new facility will treat municipal secondary effluent to replenish SqCWD's sole drinking water source, the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin. Using a three-step treatment process, which includes ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide, the advanced water purification facility will provide sustainable drinking water for the traditionally drought-stressed region. Optimizing the plant will also reduce ocean discharge by  up to 25%.

"As climate change threatens water security, more communities are turning to water reuse;  SqCWD's new advanced water purification facility is one of several impactful programs combating these concerns in California," said Jacobs Vice President of Design-Build and Operations Management and Facilities Services Greg Fischer. "Together, we're collaboratively addressing seawater intrusion and groundwater contamination challenges while maintaining an innovative and resilient solution for the community's water resources."

Jacobs has served as the operations and maintenance at-risk consultant for the advanced water purification facility since 2020. Under the new contract, Jacobs will use its Digital OneWater suite of solutions to improve the plant's performance and mitigate risk. To simulate operational scenarios and show how the new facility can minimize energy and chemical use, Jacobs developed an advanced digital twin of the new facility.

"We officially held our ribbon cutting for the Pure Water Soquel facility this fall and as we continue with startup, commissioning and then into its operational phase, we're very pleased to have Jacobs on board," said SqCWD General Manager Melanie Mow Schumacher. "Pure Water Soquel is a critical part of addressing our local and regional water supply challenges, and it's important to have a dependable partnership to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the facility over the coming years."

Across California, Jacobs has been part of some of the state's largest critical infrastructure projects, such as the Pure Water Project for Las Virgenes-Triunfo, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) to establish a statewide hydrogen hub, Los Angeles World Airports Capital Improvement Program, the award-winning Los Angeles Federal Courthouse, Delta Conveyance Project, the Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project and the Port of San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program. Jacobs was also recently awarded an O&M contract by the Lincoln-SMD1 Wastewater Authority.