Civil Engineering Program 2022 Projects

Liaisons: Mark A. Chase, P.E., Senior Vice President, AZTEC Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Howard Lum, P.E., S.E.; Jason Song, Ph.D., P.E.; John Shamma, P.E.; Rupa Purasinghe, Ph.D., P.E.

Students: Jonathan Alvarado, German Alvarez, Ricardo Cervantes, Sergio Chavez, Alexander Cividanis, Matthew Espinoza, Jian Eusebio, Breanna Flores, Moises Gallardo, Benjamin Gonzalez, Semih Kayas, Firmin Luong, Carlos Lupercio Jr., Cesar Ortiz, Dominic Oshana, Jesus Padilla, Beatriz Perez-Varela, Walter Pineda, Alexxis Nicole Quidilla, Jennifer Ramirez, Adolfo Retana, Cesar Rodas, Alex Ta

Mining companies based in Corona, California, partnered with the senior civil engineering students at California State University, Los Angeles, to design and construct a complete water system for use in a future mining project. Their current water supplier, The Eagle Valley Water Company, cannot supply the necessary water demand for their daily operations. Thus, the client secured the right to extract water for eight hours a day, seven days a week, at a rate of no more than 500 gallons per minute, in Cajalco Creek, California. The primary water source in the area, a subsurface aquifer, currently provides more than enough water to meet the mining interests' demands. Therefore, a well, pump, and pipeline system with an accompanying access road that transports and stores water into a tank before being utilized will be planned and designed.

Multiple civil engineering disciplines will be required to design the water system successfully. The water resources team will do the calculations necessary to develop the pipe system, select the appropriate pump, and determine the tank capacity and well specifications. The structural team will design the pipelines and steel storage tank to withstand internal and external pressures. The geotechnical team will design the foundation and finalize retaining wall geometry based on existing site conditions. The transportation team will choose an appropriate access road alignment and design its various components. The environmental team will follow the CEQA checklist to provide the best mitigation to address environmental impacts.

This pipeline, access road, and pump station will be sustainable, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and integrated into the natural environment without interfering with existing utility roads and structures. All aspects of the project will follow the necessary regulations and requirements of jurisdictional and regulating agencies.

Eagle Valley Quarry Water Supply and Distribution
Sponsor: AZTEC Engineering Group, Inc.

Liaisons: Mark A. Chase, P.E., Senior Vice President, AZTEC Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Howard Lum, P.E., S.E.; Jason Song, Ph.D., P.E.; John Shamma, P.E.; Rupa Purasinghe, Ph.D., P.E.

Students: Jeffrey Aguilar, Luis Arevalo, Rafael Avila, Alejandro Cardenas, David Cardenas, Siu Yip Chan, Victor Cuevas, Tigist Desta, John Grefiel, Eduard Kirakosyan, Hao Lam, Alexis Lopez, Michael Mafonde, Ramez Mikhil, Israel Mota, Samer Najjar, Tan Nguyen, Son Pham, Ruby Rodriguez, Angelika Sonne, Jasmine Valle, Bryan Villegas, Sabastian Wamwati, Zilin Xiao

Aggregate mining interests (Interests) contracted our engineers, the Eagle Eyes Engineering team, to design a reliable water capture and transport system that is constructible, serviceable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. The water infrastructure is designed to meet all applicable codes and zoning requirements. Careful consideration was made to the project's sustainability, emphasizing its impact from inception to retirement. The planning and design of the project considered its long-term economic feasibility. After considering all technical and non-technical constraints, the team designed an efficient, sustainable, and ecologically sound infrastructure system that safely moves water north from the Cajalco Creek aquifer to two large storage tanks via an underground pipe system. The pipeline route and locations of the wells and the storage tanks have been optimized to provide the client with a sufficient water supply for their operational needs while considering impacts on the environment and project cost.

Cajalco Water Distribution System
Sponsor: AZTEC Engineering Group, Inc.

Liaisons: Mark A. Chase, P.E., Senior Vice President, AZTEC Engineering
Advisors: Howard Lum, P.E., S.E.; Jason Song, Ph.D., P.E.; John Shamma, P.E.; Rupa Purasinghe, Ph.D., P.E.

Students: Jonathan Arellano, Andrew Coleman, Miriam Correa, Mark Cruz, Bryan Gomez, Nelson Hernandez, Jose Larios, Emmanuel Limaco, Oai (Thomas) Mach, Xavier Melendrez, Mario Miranda Trujillo, Omar Morales, Juan Morales, Armando Jose Nunez-Fausto, Armando Ortega, Jonathan Pacheco, Manuel Ramirez, Jose Rodriguez, Sylvia Sonora, Jonathan Trujillo, Matthew Venegas, Daniel Virgen, Claudia Zambrano, Haocheng Zhen

Eagle Valley Quarry is located on River Rock Road in Corona, California. The Quarry requires an efficient amount of water for 9 hours per day at a rate of 1.25 cubic feet per second to sustain its mining operation. Eagle Valley needs assistance in constructing a sustainable and eco-friendly system to extract, convey, and store water from Cajalco Creek to the mining operation site to meet its demand. The Cajalco Water Distribution System project aims to construct a sustainable and eco-friendly water system to meet the water demand of 302,000 gallons for 9 hours of operations per day. The Cajalco Water Distribution System Project will be west of Corona near the I-15 Freeway. The five phases of the project consist of demolition, excavation, grading, construction of the water system, and installation of mitigation measures to preserve the natural habitat. The water system components include a well, pump station, storage tank, and pipeline that conveys water through those features. This water delivery system will convey the water to Eagle Valley Quarry, which will mitigate the dust produced during their mining operations.

View Cajalco Water Distribution System Presentation