Meet Tim Constantine

Tim is a proud Canadian and has lived his entire life in Southwestern Ontario. He completed his undergraduate degree in chemical and biochemical engineering from Western University and received his master’s in chemical engineering from McMaster University. During the summers after his 3^rd and 4^th years of his undergraduate degree, he worked as an activated sludge pilot plant operator and lab technician (for Jacobs!) at three sites in Ontario and Quebec, and this experience helped instill a passion for all things wastewater treatment (now Water Resource Recovery!).

After receiving his master’s degree in 1996, Tim spent three years at a small water and wastewater consulting firm in the Toronto area. While he enjoyed his time there, he knew that further growth in his career would require him to find better mentoring and growth opportunities and he found that in Jacobs (formerly CH2M HILL). 2024 will be his 25^th year with the firm and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

What motivated you to pursue a career in the water sector?

I am blessed in so many ways, not the least of which is that I am a second-generation wastewater treatment engineer. As many know, my father Ted Constantine (who sadly passed away in August 2023) worked for Jacobs for 30 years and was in the engineering profession for 61 years. He was an incredible mentor to many, including me. I remember as a young boy, I asked my dad what he did for work and, not really understanding what wastewater treatment was, he showed me a picture of the Cuyahoga River being ablaze, saying that human activity and pollution caused this, and that Lake Erie was essentially dead. He then told me his job was to help solve this problem.

Now, some 50 years later, my partner Marcey and I own a house on the north shore of Lake Erie. I’m often amazed at how beautiful the lake is and we often enjoy fresh caught Lake Erie perch for dinner. So, it gives me a sense of pride that we have come such a long way from what I thought of the lake when I was young, and this is in large part due to improvements in wastewater management during my lifetime. However, there are times during the summer where the shore becomes littered with algae, and it is a reminder to me that we still have so much more to do to create a sustainable future.  

You’ve decided to rename Jacobs’ Wastewater solutions as Water Resource Recovery. Why is that?

I’m a firm believer that 'words matter’, and as such, I feel that the lexicon we use to describe the industry, and vocation that I love, should be much more aspirational. As we fully embrace the concept of OneWater, it’s important to affirm that all water has value and calling it ‘wastewater’ implies it’s something that doesn’t need to be valued. Think of what is actually ‘coming down the pipe’ toward our treatment facility: carbon and heat, both of which can be extracted as energy; nutrients that can be recovered in the form of fertilizer; carbon-based residuals that can be upcycled to valuable products, and the water itself. As such, Water Resource Recovery more aptly describes what our solutions team has been driving towards, even though (of course!) a primary component of our work is to provide adequate treatment to produce an effluent that can be discharged to the environment.

What is your favorite part of your role?

One of the primary reasons I joined Jacobs back in 1999 was the organization’s commitment to a well-defined technology career path, with focus on employee growth and development as well as mentorship, which I’m pleased to say remains steadfast to the present day. I have been fortunate to have many amazing mentors at all stages of my career and it’s important to me to pass this on to the next generation within the firm. To this end, I hold numerous monthly mentoring calls with rising stars within Jacobs across the globe and I look forward to every interaction, whether it be by video call or in person.

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

I enjoy a good technical challenge, but not necessarily in the sense of hunkering down and solving it all on my own, although I do like that at times. No, I much rather enjoy working with my Jacobs’ wastewater technical team and especially with clients (engineers, operators, etc.) to develop the right solution for the given situation. And this often means doing a lot of listening and, in particular, gaining knowledge from the people “closest to the action” at a treatment plant – the operators! These sorts of conversations and collaborative problem solving truly energize me.  

What advice would you give to young professionals?

Two expressions resonate with me as advice to someone starting out in their career. The first is the adage “Rome was not built in one day”, and the second is “We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are”. To put it more practically, my advice is to take on challenges that may not be in your wheelhouse or where you think you necessarily want to be in your “dream future”. It’s amazing what you can learn, and those lessons (even if they appear to be tangents) can actually be incredibly valuable in your future. While process engineering has always been my passion, early in my career I took on many, many seemingly (at the time) tangential tasks and projects, including construction site inspection, detailed design and specification writing, project management and I even once designed a boiler and hydronic heating system for a drinking water plant (under the direction of a senior mechanical/HVAC engineer). Those experiences have made me a much better process engineer.

If you aren’t working, what are we most likely to find you doing?

To fulfil my natural competitive streak away from work, I love to golf with friends and family, as well as playing competitive chess and Euchre online. I’m so very proud of my three children (Lauren, Hayden and Megan) and, while all three are out of the home tackling the rigors of university life, I enjoy spending time with them and watching their growth into adulthood. Finally, I also love taking long beach walks with the love of my life, Marcey, and our two dogs at our lakefront home on Lake Erie.