Maria Reyes Perez

Biography

Maria Fernanda Reyes Perez is an Environmental Engineer from Ecuador with a BSc. degree from the University San Francisco of Quito. In 2010 she finished her MSc. at the University of Twente in The Netherlands in Environmental and Energy Management with specialization in Environmental Management. In November 2012 she started her PhD. on Water Demand and Supply Managment Strategies in Tropical Islands: A case study of the island of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Archipelago) at the UNESCO-IHE in the Environmental Engineering and Water Technology department. 

Publications

-Reyes, M., Trifunovic, N.,  Sharma, S. ,  Kennedy, M., 2015.  Water Supply and Semand in Santa Cruz Island-Galapagos Archipelago.  International Water Technology Journal, 6-3 p. 212-221. International Water Technology Association. 

-Reyes, M., Trifunovic, N.,  Sharma, S. ,  Kennedy, M., 2015.  Water Supply and Demand in Santa Cruz Island-Galapagos Archipelago. Manuscript presented at the 18th International Water Technology Conference, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, March 12-14, 2015. 

-Reyes, M., Trifunovic, N.,  Sharma, S. ,  Kennedy, M., 2015. Data Assessment for Water Demand and Supply Balance in the Island of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Island). Desalination and Water Treatment Journal – DESWATER (1-15),  DOI: 10.1080/19443994.2015.1119756.

-Reyes, M., Trifunovic, N., Sharma, S., Kennedy, M. Implications of Water Tariff Structure on Water Demand  in Santa Cruz Island (Galapagos Archipelago).  Manuscript presented at the XVth World Water Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, May 24-29, 2015. 

-Reyes, M., Trifunovic, N., D' Ozouville, N., Sharma, S., Kennedy, M. Water Demand Quantification in the Island of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Archipelago). Urban Water Journal (under review). 

-Reyes, M.,Trifunovic, N.,Sharma, S. Kennedy, M. 2015. Water Supply Assessment on Santa Cruz Island: A Technical Overview of Provision and Estimation of Water Demand. pp. 46-53. In: Galapagos Report 2013-2014. GNPD,  GCREG, CDF and GC. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador.

-Reyes M., Trifunovic, N., Sharma, S., Kennedy, M. 2015. Evaluacion del Suministro de Agua en la Isla Santa Cruz:Una Perspectiva General Tecnica Sobre la Provision y Demanda Valorada de Agua. Pp. 46-53. En: Informe Galapagos 2013-2014. DPNG, CGREG, FCD y GC. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador.

-Reyes M., Trifunovic, N., Sharma, S., Kennedy, M. Water Supply and Demand Forecasting in Puerto Ayora-Santa Cruz. Manuscript presented at the 14th Islands of the World Conference, Lesvos, Greece, May 23-27, 2016.

Topic

The Galapagos Islands, a province of the Republic of Ecuador, is a volcanic archipelago of significant ecological importance, making it a unique place in the world.  For centuries, limited water resources have been perceived and felt in these islands, therefore, water issues have been recognized as an important and urgent matter. Each of the five inhabited islands is undergoing its own water-related problems, characterized by the different source of freshwater.

The quality and quantity of freshwater are one of the main problems in the Galapagos Islands. The quantity is limited and access to available water supplied by municipal systems tends to be partial due to quality and other issues. The water concerns are felt mostly in the islands of Santa Cruz, where the main and bigger human settlements are located, and also where the majority of tourist visitors stay. Furthermore, tourism- and population growth are applying an extreme stress on water- and other natural resources.

Another major concern of the local population is reliability of the municipal supply system, since it is intermittent with variable frequencies. Significant amount of losses have already been identified along the transportation and distribution stages contributing noticeably to water scarcity. Moreover, poor maintenance and old piping systems contribute also to the provision of unreliable service in Santa Cruz and San Cristobal.

The study will be performed with focus to the research areas of water supply and demand. During the research, water consumption will be deeply analyzed, as well as variations and different trends according to the type of supplied water by different sources (municipal, bottled and rainwater). The research also encompasses assessments of the municipal water supply systems, in order to identify their current situation. Also, different problems along the system should be recognized, to recommend improvements of the strategy for addressing scarcity issues. Intermittency of the network has been modelled, in order to assess the applicability of roof tanks and the advantages/disadvantages of the abolishment of such storage facilities. Morever, demand patterns and calibration of water demand has been emphasized. 

Moreover, urban water demand forecasting was involved using the WaterMet2 model, in order to analyze the future coverage of demand with supply over a 30 year planning horizon. Based on the previous  prognosis, alternatives and intervention strategies have been proposed as means to solve the future water crisis. Afterwards, a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was developed with the objective of portraying the best combination of solutions concerning different disciplines. This resulting combination of strategies will consider the fragility of the ecosystem and will portray the extent to which each solution could and should be applied, and thus how to combine them.

This research is funded by National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador (SENESCYT) and its scope has been developed with support of key stakeholders in the Galapagos Islands: the National Park of Galapagos, the National Secretariat of Water (SENAGUA), the Charles Darwin Foundation and the municipalities of Santa Cruz . With this support, the research will be co-supervised by local actors who will contribute significantly to the final outputs. 

Funding Source: SENESCYT (National Secretariat of Science, Development and Technology from Ecuador).

Link to CV