New earthquake warning technology may reduce damage, increase understanding of hazards

Although residents of California continue to be daunted by the threat of earthquakes, one can easily ignore the risks of such a natural disaster and act as if it will never occur. However, as California is home to one of the most dangerous faults, the San Andreas Fault, Californians must be able to ultimately prepare for the event of an earthquake.  

Davis is unlikely to experience a major earthquake, but is still susceptible as it will likely be affected by neighboring cities’ post-earthquake shaking.

The 2017 United States Geological Survey (USGS) forecast, the only federal agency responsible for nationwide earthquake recording and reporting, identified new, potential ground-shaking hazards. These new USGS maps include both human-induced and natural earthquakes, but despite the overall seismic hazard decrease from the 2016 forecast, there continues to be a significant likelihood for ground-shaking damage.

“While we know much more about earthquakes than we did 40 years ago, and our data is vastly better, we still do not know how to precisely predict earthquakes,” said John Rundle, a distinguished UC Davis professor of physics, civil engineering and geology and the board chair of the OpenHazards Group, in an email interview. “And given what we have learned, it does not appear that deterministic prediction will be a reality in the next decade or more.”

“Through the science of complex systems and internet technology, we can make the world more resilient to losses from catastrophic events,” according to the OpenHazards Group, an earthquake forecasting and hazard analysis website.

The website advocates that groups of individuals work together, combine expertise and focus on the development and use of “tail-risk analytics to assess, forecast, and mitigate catastrophic events.”

Rundle recommended that residents of Davis should be prepared for an earthquake no matter the likelihood.

“While it is highly unlikely that we would have a major earthquake within, say, 10 miles of Davis, there have been magnitude 6+ earthquakes in Winters and Vacaville in 1892,” Rundle said. “The best way to deal with these disasters is to seismically strengthen buildings to modern standards.”  

In terms of preparation, Rundle stated that the City of Davis meets current seismic building codes, in the wake of the earthquake threats during the construction of infrastructures.”

Through the advancement of technology, the development of programs, and data analysis from computational methods, scientists can begin to further understand earthquakes as improvement remains a part of progress.

“Civil engineering, in particular, geotechnical engineering, is a relatively young profession, and with regards to earthquakes, one of the challenges is that we are learning more after the damage has happened rather than already being prepared for it,” said Katerina Ziotopoulou, a UC Davis professor in the College of Engineering.

There are several early earthquake alerting, warning and tracking systems, such as the MyShake/MyQuake app, created by the Berkeley Seismology Lab, which maps and tracks earthquakes through phone sensors. Another app is “QuakeWorks,” developed from the OpenHazards Group, which not only forecasts earthquakes and estimates their damage but also gives information of other hazards via their website.

These free and useful smartphone apps help the public learn more about natural hazards through collected data.

The implementation of an early warning system, ShakeAlert, will eventually provide public warnings seconds before the shaking occurs as stated on the USGS federal website.

All the same, Ziotopoulou emphasized the need for preparation and states two components: “In being prepared, [one] must react [and] protect ourselves, [such as] going under [a] door, desk or having a whistle […].”

The Bay Area Rapid Transit conducted and completed a system-wide vulnerability study in 2002 that indicated if the BART system was not retrofitted, the restoration process after a major earthquake would take years.

“It is always a function of the decision variables that we have — dollars and downtime, and our understanding of what the consequences are, and if it is going to be more expensive to fix [the damages] beforehand or afterwards,” Ziotopoulou said.

Written by: Raymond Ruano — city@theaggie.org

What this means for the city, residents

Talk of legalizing outdoor cannabis cultivation has been lingering in the air, and the Davis City Council finally approved it with a unanimous vote of 5-0 at the council’s April 4 meeting. This enables residents to grow up to six plants outdoors, as long as it does not surpass the height of their fence or 6 feet, whichever is lower. Within the next few months, the city will undergo another set of ordinances to discuss the other issues such as if medical or adult retail sales will be allowed. The three phases that will be dealt with include the growing of cannabis, all commercial elements that are not retail, such as product development, and retail outlets.

“I think that I’m in support of the council’s move here –– the council has been very diligent in its effort of data collection and community outreach, ensuring that it reflects the needs of the community while understanding the complexities of the policies themselves,” said Eric Gudz, the chair on the board of directors for the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). “Specifically, I was very very impressed and happy to see the ordinance had utilized marijuana but the new one replaced the word with cannabis, understanding how the term marijuana is a very contentious term and is conceded with racial undertones from the war on drugs in the ‘30s.”

Gudz works with the SSDP to fight the “war on drugs,” in which there are discussions on how to change peoples’ outlook on drug policies and the way in which they frame the discussions pertaining to it. In many cases, cannabis and other drug policies are seen as statements of criminality, in which criminal sanctions would be imposed on students who overdosed calling for help, rather than being sent through the public health and safety education route to receive the proper care they need.

“It begins to change those conversations and focus in on the core of drug policy –– these are issues of public drug policy, these are issues of addiction –– the roots of the problems are not at the drugs themselves; really understanding the depth of that is what we do,” Gudz said.

As for the how outdoor cannabis cultivation will affect the residents, city councilmember Rochelle Swanson doesn’t predict many repercussions.

“I expect little to no impact on the residents,” Swanson said. “Typically, neighbors aren’t even aware that other neighbors that are growing. And, for the economy, that is honestly unknown. We of course will be collecting sales tax –– there probably won’t be sales tax on medicinal, but there will be business licenses so there will be licenses. We’ve only regulated a small amount of it. We’re working with people who have a history on this so that we do the very best by our community, that’s really important.”

Since this is the first time the City of Davis will encounter such an allowance of cannabis, it will have to be regulated and accommodated to fit the needs of the city.

“It’s hard to tell [how cannabis will affect the city], what we’ve said is that this is a new era––no one has been in a situation where scheduled drug prohibited substance has gone past prohibition,” Mayor Robb Davis said. “We’re in the process of having our police go and give us info on a regular basis on complaints and our clients. There doesn’t appear to be an increase in clients, but we’ll adjust as necessary.”

The allowance of outdoor cannabis cultivation has been disputed and discussed for quite some time, with many making the argument that growing cannabis will enable its misuse or cause problems for the community. However, rules and regulations have been set forth, and additional meetings and ordinances will take place as well to ensure that safety is maintained. The city will take the necessary measures in order to make certain the best possible outcomes for its residents.

“Overall, I think it’s going to have a direction that it gives the greater community –– a more upfront introduction to cannabis that frankly is already been existing in the community for a long time,” Gudz said. “This is sort of the next step in that policy that we’re seeing across the state. One of the big things is looking at ensuring that social justice remains a cornerstone of those discussions. We orient these policies around social policies and ideals. The war on drugs has impacted permanently scores of communities across the globe.”
Written by: Kaelyn Tuermer-Lee — city@theaggie.org

Davis soon to be home to four unique breweries

Beer enthusiasts: Is Davis finally making the map in the brewing industry? Those who think not may soon be proven wrong. In the next couple of months, two new Davis breweries, Dunloe Brewing and Super Owl Brewing, will be ready to open their doors for people to grab a barstool in their taprooms.

While Sudwerk built its roots in Davis in 1989, the brewing industry is just starting to pick up in town with Three Mile Brewing Co. opening in 2016 and the two new breweries in construction, both with connections back to the City of Davis and UC Davis.

Brennan Dunloe, the owner of Dunloe Brewing, grew up in Davis; he enjoyed and understood the town and wanted to come back. He traces his interest in brewing back to his youth.

“It started in my backyard,” Dunloe said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and figured out I could go to school for brewing, so I moved back to Davis and finished up community college. I actually started working at Sudwerk somewhere in there and got accepted into UCD as a transfer student and UCD’s Master Brewers program on the same day. I started going on campus and withdrew so I could do the Master Brewers program and then went back to finish up food science in 2014.”

His experience at Sudwerk and at the UC Davis program prepared him for what he may encounter at his own brewery. While Sudwerk often focuses on its lagers, according to Dunloe, he said he wants to take a different route and have fun more brewing. Much like Three Mile, he hopes to have a rotating style of beers and less of the traditional side of things.

Dunloe has already began production on his first brew and hopes to open the tasting room within a couple months.

The new breweries in town could also help improve UC Davis’ Master Brewers program. Dunloe remembers the scarce number of internship opportunities available nearby and hopes that the new breweries can increase that type of real-world experience.

“Day-to-day you can get away with not having that kind of education [UC Davis Master Brewers Program] but on a bad day it’s really nice to have it so you can get out of whatever situation you are in,” Dunloe said.

While Joe Vida, owner of Super Owl Brewing, doesn’t have the same type of formal education in brewing as Dunloe, he is far from an amateur. His wife, Rachel Vida, who helps run the legal and business sides of the operation, remembers him talking about opening his own brewery since they met in college.

Rachel graduated from the UC Davis School of Law, and the two wanted to move back to the area to start the business and raise their family. Joe increased his involvement with the Davis home brewing club, Greenbelt Brewers’ Association. He began to get to know other beer enthusiasts in the area until he finally decided to make the transition to professional brewing.

“[The brewers in Davis are] a very friendly group of people who share information and want to see everyone succeed,” Joe Vida said. “I couldn’t be more grateful for all the help they’ve given. It’s a really good learning community for the brewing industry.”

Super Owl hopes to focus more on American and English-style, like ale-style beers, but also some big IPAs, robust stouts and dark strongs, too. The brewery expects to incorporate local farmers and local fruits for seasonality with its beers.

“We like to incorporate organic produce, and having worked for a recycling lobbyist, sustainability is really important to me,” Rachel said. “We want to give our spent grain to farmers to use for goats or cows and have as little waste as possible.”

Super Owl hopes to take a more community-based approach for its brewery, with a kids area and open patio. It will be picnic-style, in which people can bring in their own food, and local eateries in West Davis, like Lamppost Pizza, may even deliver to the brewery.

Whatever the two breweries have working in their midst, Davis is an up-and-coming locale for those in search of a good brew.
Written By: Bianca Antunez — city@theaggie.org

Mayor of Davis joins 180 other mayors in taking the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation

The month of April is Earth Month, meaning now is the time to go green. During Earth Month, the City of Davis hosts many events with the goal of challenging citizens to make the Earth a greener place. One of those events is the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. The Mayor’s Challenge is a pledge taken by the mayor and citizens of cities across the nation to conserve water for the month of April. At the end of the month, the citizens who took the pledge in the city that saves the most water are eligible for various prizes, including a new Toyota Prius. Davis is currently ranked 14th.

While this is Davis’ first year taking the pledge, the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation has been around for six years, having started from humble beginnings.

“We started it almost as an experiment, as part of a living green fair in South Florida,” said Steve Creech, the executive director of the Wyland Foundation. “It had a water footprint calculator that we had come out with, that was designed to accompany one of our museum exhibits. We were at this eco fair and we were talking to the mayor of the city where we were having the fair and he said ‘hey, I love what you guys are doing, and I love that calculator you have. Is there anyway our whole city could get involved and we could count up all the pledges people make, and then challenge another city…’ Everybody had such a good time with it and they were all learning, that we just decided to grow the program.”

The project started small, but it has grown to a much larger scale, with around 180 mayors taking the pledge this year.

“Every year it grows,” Creech said. “This year we have more mayors participating than ever and, I think, we’ve had 1.2 million pledges over the course of the whole program.”

The program started as a friendly competition between a few cities. While this friendly competition remains, Creech made it clear that the purpose of the pledging is for the environment.

“The mayors are really designed to lead in their communities and remind people how important water conservation is and managing our resources is,” Creech said. “The point of all this […] is that we are trying to ensure a reliable, steady supply of water that serves all the needs in our country.”

Robb Davis, Davis’ mayor, held similar sentiments toward the challenge.

“I don’t think we are trying to ‘move up’ [in the competition],” Davis said. “We will keep promoting conservation and lead the way by converting more city turf to low water usage”

Davis also mentioned the respect he had for the people of Davis in their response to the drought.

“I think Davis residents have been responsive to public information on the drought and many have taken action on their own,” Davis said. “Perhaps most importantly, the City Council proposed and passed water rates that are focused on encouraging conservation.”

While the Mayor’s Challenge encourages the mayors of towns and cities to push for water conservation, Creech said that the real conservation comes from everyday people.

“We love to have the mayors, but we actually find that the most participation just comes from random people all throughout the United States,” Creech said.

Regardless, the struggle to conserve water falls into the hands of everyone, not just the mayor.

“The most important thing people can do is reduce their waste, just buy only the food you need,” Creech said. “If you can do that you can conserve massive amounts of water.”

Kate Smith, a first-year Environmental Science and Management major at UC Davis, has been conserving water for quite some time.

“My family and I made a big effort to take quick showers (use a 2:50 minute timer to make sure) and we wash dishes using like, a sink of water rather than letting it run the whole time,” Smith said. “Also, we stopped watering our lawn and I set up a drip irrigation system in our garden at home and at my school garden, which is much more efficient.”

Even though Earth Month is nearing an end, conserving water won’t stop when May begins. It’s never too late to make the pledge to conserve water.
Written by: Nicolas Rago — city@theaggie.org