Civil engineering student receives award and fellowship for water demand research

Angela Maldonado Alfaro won the Outstanding Poster Presentation award at the 45th Annual Central California Research Symposium last spring and was recently selected for the CSU Agricultural Research Institute fellowship. Alfro is a civil engineering student in the Lyles College of Engineering. 

In April, Alfaro’s poster titled “Unlocking Water Demand Patterns and Alter Consumption Insights for Targeted Conservation Strategies'', represented Central California’s monthly water demands graphically, identified outdoor consumption and the high consumers of total consumption, not just outdoor. 

The poster also demonstrated the correlation analysis between household variables and water demands which got the highest correlated variable. Alfaro and her researcher, Dr. Jorge Pesantez, assistant professor of civil engineering in the Lyles College, predicted water demand using a linear question model. 

“I was grateful for the support that my researcher gave me,” Alfaro said. “He had a connection with the water utility and they were able to gather data from the years 2016-2020 for how much people paid for how many gallons of water monthly.”

One of the biggest problems right now with water is climate change, Alfro said the warmer temperatures means there's longer, drier seasons. 

“Actually, in Southern California, agriculture is about 40% of our total consumption of the state,” Alfaro said. “So you can imagine it’s probably more for the valley specifically. Here, they rely on reservoirs and canals for water.”

By the end of the spring semester, Alfaro was one of 40 students selected to receive the fellowship from the Agricultural Research Institute for her project. Each undergraduate student receives $11,000 for their research project and the projects must be a topic in agriculture and natural resources. 

Alfaro’s main focus of the project will still be similar to her poster presentation, but will now include more data than just single family homes. 

“But now we’re also taking townhomes and duplexes into account,” Alfaro said. “We’re also going to consider how weather plays a factor in helping the predictions for water demand, we’re just adding to it.”

Alfaro plans to continue her education at Fresno State and pursue a masters degree in civil engineering. She is also considering pursuing a PhD after she gains experience in the field.