Colorado

Officials weigh drought, water deliveries to users on Colorado River

Published

2 years ago

April 14, 2022

FLAGSTAFF — Federal officers say it could be obligatory to scale back water deliveries to customers on the Colorado River to stop the shutdown of an enormous dam that provides hydropower to some 5 million prospects throughout the U.S. West.

Officers had hoped snowmelt would buoy Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border to make sure its dam may proceed to produce energy. However snow is already melting, and hotter-than-normal temperatures and extended drought are additional shrinking the lake.

The Inside Division has proposed holding again water within the lake to take care of Glen Canyon Dam’s capability to generate electrical energy amid what it mentioned had been the driest situations within the area in additional than 1,200 years.

“The perfect accessible science signifies that the consequences of local weather change will proceed to adversely impression the basin,” Tanya Trujillo, the Inside’s assistant secretary for water and science wrote to seven states within the basin Friday.

Trujillo requested for suggestions on the proposal to maintain 480,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell — sufficient water to serve about 1 million U.S. households. She burdened that working the dam under 3,490 toes (1,063 meters), thought-about its minimal energy pool, is uncharted territory and would result in much more uncertainty for the western electrical grid and water deliveries to states and Mexico downstream.

Within the Colorado River basin, Glen Canyon Dam is the mammoth of energy manufacturing, delivering electrical energy to about 5 million prospects in seven states — Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. As Lake Powell falls, the dam turns into much less environment friendly. At 3,490 toes, it could actually’t produce energy.

If ranges had been to fall under that mark, the 7,500 residents within the metropolis on the lake, Web page, and the adjoining Navajo neighborhood of LeChee would haven’t any entry to consuming water.

The Pacific Northwest, and the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and Texas are going through related strains on water provides.

Lake Powell fell under 3,525 toes (1,075 meters) for the primary time ever final month, a degree that involved nervous water managers. Federal knowledge reveals it would dip even additional, in essentially the most possible situation, earlier than rebounding above the extent subsequent spring.

If energy manufacturing ceases at Glen Canyon Dam, prospects that embrace cities, rural electrical cooperatives and tribal utilities could be pressured to hunt costlier choices. The loss additionally would complicate western grid operations since hydropower is a comparatively versatile renewable power supply that may be simply turned up or down, consultants say.

“We’re in disaster administration, and well being and human issues of safety, together with manufacturing of hydropower, are taking priority,” mentioned Jack Schmidt, director of the middle for Colorado River Research at Utah State College. “Ideas like, ‘Are we going to get our water again’ simply might not even be related anymore.”

The potential impacts to decrease basin states that might see their water provides lowered — California, Nevada and Arizona — aren’t but recognized. However the Inside’s transfer is a show of the wide-ranging features of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam, and the necessity to shortly pivot to confront local weather change.

Lake Powell serves because the barometer for the river’s well being within the higher basin, and Lake Mead has that job within the decrease basin. Each had been final full within the 12 months 2000 however have declined to one-fourth and one-third of their capability, respectively, as drought tightened its grip on the area.

Water managers within the basin states — Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado — are evaluating the proposal. The Inside Division has set an April 22 deadline for suggestions.

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Colorado

Benton’s Tedeschi commits to Colorado State

Published

39 mins ago

June 29, 2024

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Colorado

Fans roast EA Sports' 'laughable' Colorado ranking in 'College Football 25'

Published

8 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Fans roast EA Sports' 'laughable' Colorado ranking in 'College Football 25'

EA Sports has released several rankings for its College Football 25 this week, teasing the July 19 release date for the much-awaited new game. When the company dropped the latest Power Rankings Friday, fans argued on social media about this team or that team’s relative ranking.

Yet fans universally seemed to agree on one ranking: Colorado is not the No. 16 team in the country.

Recall the Buffaloes started 3-0 last season under new coach Deion Sanders, and some fans had illusions of a College Football Playoff spot. But reality set in, and the Buffs dropped eight of nine to finish the season.

That is not what anyone looks for in a potential top 20 program. The popular College Sports Only X account noted, “EA Sports really ranked Colorado the 16th best team in “College Football 25″ after going 4-8 last season & losing 8 of their last 9 games.”

EA Sports really ranked Colorado the 16th best team in “College Football 25” after going 4-8 last season & losing 8 of their last 9 games. 🤦 pic.twitter.com/cmjIgbehz8
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) June 28, 2024

EA Sports has shared details about how it wants to make the game as realistic as possible, even having CFB 25 announcers such as Chris Fowler call every conceivable scenario that might happen in game play. Fans have pointed out some slight errors in the game thus far. For example, the Texas State stadium was rendered in the game without an upper deck.

But even with Sanders coming in and energizing Colorado’s football program, rating the Buffaloes 16th is a huge stretch. And fans had plenty to say on social media.

EA Sports developers leaving Colorado after guaranteeing Deion Sanders a top 25 ranking pic.twitter.com/Ngm614yZRc
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) June 28, 2024
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HOW IS COLORADO at SIXTEEN LMFAO?!
— Athens Steve (@rainy_steve) June 28, 2024

Again why is Colorado this high? They won 4 games last year 🤦
— Bryan (@BGauvin23) June 28, 2024

EA had to screw something up on this game eventually 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/T1I1piPO8d
— Brandon Suarez (@Bdon300) June 28, 2024

where’s the logic here https://t.co/S8jQzHDtfL
— lifetime grizzlies fan (@therealkevinyeh) June 28, 2024

I’m convinced the person in charge of ratings is a 17 year old hype beast https://t.co/YnHC3dk5uN
— mike (@burnacount4mike) June 28, 2024
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One of their developers must be Rocky Mountain high if they think Colorado is that good.
— J.P. McDonough (@JPMcDonough74) June 28, 2024

EA sports ranked Colorado at number 16 in college football 25! This is laughable! This makes no sense! Finished the season four and eight! But they’re the 16th best team in the country. OK!
— 5star CFB (@5starcfb) June 28, 2024

[College Sports Only on X/Twitter]

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Colorado

Nurses at Rocky Mountain VA rally for more staffing to serve Colorado veterans

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2024

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Nurses at Rocky Mountain VA rally for more staffing to serve Colorado veterans

For Colorado ICU nurse Jordan LeBlanc, working at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center has been a rewarding experience because of his daily interaction with the veteran population.

“What could be greater than our veterans. They’re funny. They’re kind. They’re forgiving. They think that we know best, even when we don’t, but most of all they trust us,” said LeBlanc.

It is that trust that nurses say they are pushing to protect, in the wake of what they say has been an ongoing hiring freeze from nationwide budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We have 57 open vacancies that are frontline,” said Sharda Fornnarino, who is the director of the local National Nurses United at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA. “That basically entails the ICU, med surge, the OR, some of our surgical areas as far as the outpatient surgeries, SCI and our mental health area.”

On Thursday, nurses from the medical center rallied across the street from the building in Aurora to raise awareness about their existing staffing shortages and the challenges they have faced being able to serve the veteran population because of this shortage.

LeBlanc says often nurses like him now have to take on a greater patient workload and sometimes work more hours to do so.

“Our ICU specifically has been staffed at less than 85% of its functional capacity,” he said. “Right now, we’re at 18 bed ICU that only 12 of the beds are open. They’ve closed six beds because of staffing levels.”

Nurses say the staffing challenges does not just affect their morale, but it can also compromise the relationship they have with each patient.

“Any veteran or any patient within our system will get less than they deserve, less than the total dignity that each individual really deserves to be provided,” he said.

VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes responded to nurses rallying across the country, saying there is no freeze on hiring nurses and they are continuing to hire nurses needed across the country. Hayes’s complete statement is as follows:

VA’s top priority is providing the world-class care that Veterans deserve, and we are committed to making sure we have nursing staff we need to deliver the soonest and best care to Veterans.
There is no nationwide hiring freeze on VA nurses, and we are continuing to hire nurses, as needed, across the country to ensure that we can deliver world-class care to Veterans. Over the past 3 years, VA has aggressively hired nurses nationwide – increasing our nursing workforce by 14,000 nurses to a total of 122,000 nurses, the largest nursing workforce in the country and in the history of VA. VA is also retaining our great nurses, with turnover rates currently at 3.4% – far outperforming the private sector. There are also locations where we need to continue hiring nurses, and we are doing that – as demonstrated by the below hiring numbers.
Partly as a result of these hiring efforts and our great nurses, VA is currently delivering more care to more Veterans than ever before, outperforming non-VA care, and Veterans trust VA care at all-time record rates.

The VA’s office went on to share statistics on what they say have been all time high rates of veteran trust in VA care and decreasing wait times. However, Fornnarino says any hiring has been to fill strategic positions, where in reality all vacancies need to be filled.

“I haven’t seen more of those hires come to the bed side,” she said.

Nurses also worry the VA will become more privatized if staffing needs are not met.

“When we don’t have the staffing, we have these beds shut down,” said leBlanc. “That means that our veterans go to community care, and they’re not set up to provide veteran served ethical care.”

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