The Daily Dig:
Jacobs has been tapped as the progressive design-build contractor on a roughly $200 million project to upgrade biosolids treatment systems at the San JosƩ, Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility in San JosƩ, California. The plant serves more than 1.4 million people across Silicon Valley and is a key piece of the region's long term wastewater resilience strategy.
The work focuses on aging mesophilic digesters, replacing and upgrading equipment related to reliability, solids handling, and energy recovery. The scope also includes a new fats, oils, and grease receiving station built to process high strength waste from local businesses and boost usable biogas production. Jacobs is delivering the project alongside Walsh Construction and Structural Technologies, with upgrades designed to improve operational flexibility and support regional growth needs through 2077.
Snapshot:
Owner / Developer: City of San JosƩ (serving regional partner agencies, including Santa Clara)
General Contractor: Jacobs
Design-Build Team: Jacobs (progressive design-build)
Sector: Water / Wastewater
Value: $200 million
Location: San JosƩ, California
Timeline: Not disclosed
TheJobWalk Thoughts:
This is heavy civil work where downtime isn't an option. Digesters don't forgive sloppy sequencing, and integrating new systems into an operational plant is where schedules typically fall apart. Progressive design-build helps manage the risk, but success here still hinges on smart shutdown planning, tight interface control, and solid field coordination. It's not glamorous work, just critical infrastructure that Silicon Valley absolutely needs to get right.
