Our People
Meet Paul Macinante
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Paul Macinante’s passion for engineering and water has never waned over his 40-year career in the water industry. “Because water is critical to life, I consider it a great privilege to be part of a profession that cleans and returns it to the environment,” he says. He became interested in engineering when he was just 15 years old during his first job working alongside a chemical engineer. He earned his degree while also apprenticing with Sydney Water (Australia), combining the practical with the theoretical, a skill that has served him well as a project manager.
He has been part of the evolution of the water and wastewater industry for more than four decades. He’s seen and done it all, helping pioneer irrigation reuse schemes across New South Wales, Australia, and managing projects at Sydney's largest wastewater treatment plants. He was also recently part of the team that is managing the design and construction of the world's largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant: the $3 billion Tuas Water Reclamation Plant in Singapore. As part of Singapore's Smart Nation Initiative for digital transformation, he was the project manager for the roll-out of up to 300,000 smart water meters, forging a leading-edge approach for using data to improve operations.
Paul currently serves as a technical advisor and senior project manager for a project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: The King Saud University Relocation project. He’s guiding the team in the development of the concept design and tender documentation to relocate the wet and dry utilities on a university campus. This project has been particularly rewarding because he enjoys working in and learning from new cultures. He draws inspiration from the many people and diverse cultures he has worked with, building relationships with people and getting the job done — together!
“It’s always about the people for me. What gets me up in the morning—what drives me—is the opportunity to work with great people and great teams to deliver great projects.”
Paul Macinante
Get to know Paul
You recently moved to Vancouver, what are you most excited about when it comes to working with that community?
What impresses me about Vancouver is the conscious attention to the sense of place—the context—for this infrastructure. It’s not just about building the asset; it’s about how the asset will fit into the community and the responsibility we have to the community to get it right. It’s an exciting opportunity to develop infrastructure that will leave a legacy of returning water safely to the environment and improving the environment and community where it is delivered.
When you aren’t working, what are we most likely to find you doing?
In winter, I’m downhill skiing. In summer, I’m cycling. And now that I’m in the Pacific Northwest, I hope to return to running. I’d also like to travel more, exploring Canada and the U.S.
What’s your favorite part of your role?
Working with great people to deliver exciting, complex projects. I enjoy the interaction and seeing a high-performance team deliver successful projects.
What is one tip you can give to someone looking to get involved in conserving our planet’s water?
Once you realize how precious a resource is, you’ll do everything you can to conserve it. If we want a paradigm shift, we need to change how people think about it and make it part of the culture and what we do daily. So the trick is to get people to realize how valuable water is. Coming from Australia and having witnessed the millennium drought, one develops a new appreciation for this resource. And while water is plentiful in the Northwest now, it may not be that way forever. It’s critical to begin to change hearts and minds now.
What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?
Jacobs has afforded me fantastic opportunities to work with people who are the best in the business and to travel the world. I’ve been able to deliver work anywhere in the world and do it with wonderful, diverse groups.