Hydrohistorian
Arkansas: Salida to Portland
Who may take water from the Arkansas: Salida to Portland, who is calling for it today, and how it is running, compiled from Colorado Division of Water Resources records. Click anything on the map for its record.
Arkansas: Salida to Portland on the ground — the ditches, wells, reservoirs and gages of Water District 12 · clicktap anything for its record
The well-permit cells in view, as a table
Each row is one ~1-mile cell (0.02°) with the permits the file spots inside it, split into water-supply permits and monitoring holes (DWR’s two monitoring categories: drilled to look at the water, not to pump it). These are permits, not wells: a permit is a piece of paper, and the file does not say which were drilled. Spotting is the file’s own, about a mile at best, which is why the cells are no finer.
| Lat | Lon | Water-supply permits | Monitoring holes |
|---|
Browse this district’s ditches, gages, reservoirs, wells and springs as a list.
The Arkansas River is critically low for late September -- 7% of normal flow, its 10th-driest such week in 137 years of record. 6 calls stand against it right now; the most senior right calling dates to 1860. DWR's statements do not settle whether 15 more calls reach it.
Schematic
Historical
Evolution of the network
Trends
Source Our computation, no independent reference · computed here from the screened DWR record Source Our computation, no independent reference · no independent reference; see /methods
This year, in context
In the weeks around 2026-09-27 (the newest reading on file), flows at the 13 ranked gages are running at a median 67% of their own long-term norm for this window — 9 below a typical year, 4 at or above. Driest relative to its record: HAYDEN RANCH LOWER AUG STATION, ranking 1st lowest of 7 years.
How this comparison is made
Each gage's mean flow over the 3 days either side of 2026-09-27, compared with the same window in every year of its own record — so a gage is only ever measured against itself, and gages with no record in the window are counted out rather than guessed.
Gage flow trend & changepoints
What counts as a trend here
Computed 2026-10-11 19:56 from 22 gage(s) with cached period-of-record data. The series is each gage's annual mean flow in cfsCubic feet per second, a rate of flow. One cfs running for a day is about 2 acre-feet. (years with ≥300 days of record). Mann-Kendall (trend, with the Hamed–Rao correction for serial correlation — persistence can otherwise fake significance) and Pettitt (changepoint) both require at least 8 years spanning at least 10 years of record. A gage below that reports no signal — which is not the same as “no change.” The %-per-decade figure is the same Sen slope divided by the gage's median annual flow, for comparing across streams of very different size; it is omitted for near-ephemeral channels where the median is too small to divide by honestly.
Of the 22 gages with enough record, 0 are trending down and 1 up, and 1 carries a detected shift. The clearest is Fourmile Creek near Canon City, its annual mean flow changing +4.37 cfs per decade (+21.7% of its median annual flow) over 30 years (p=0.0204). The other 21 show no clear signal either way.
Drought history, cost, and the four-century context moved to the Drought tab.
| Gage | Trend | Change / decade cfs · % of median annual flow | Significance | Years | Changepoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
▸
Fourmile Creek near Canon City FMCCANCO |
↑ increasing | +4.37 cfs +21.7% | p=0.020 | 30 | ~1979 |
21 other gage(s) show no significant trend or changepoint (not shown).
How the measurement network itself changed
This basin was not always measured the way it is today — the API-era record is dense and recent, the early record sparse. 15 gage(s) and 278 structure(s) report in 2026, but structure reporting only reached half its modern level around ~1970. Every historical claim below is checked against this: long-term shifts that co-move with the growth of the network carry an explicit measurement-evolution caution, and abandonment screens whose idleness begins before the modern reporting era are flagged †.
| Decade | Gages with data (median yr) | Structures reporting (median yr) |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1 | 0 |
| 1890s | 1 | 1 |
| 1900s | 1 | 0 |
| 1910s | 1 | 104 |
| 1920s | 1 | 121 |
| 1930s | 1 | 150 |
| 1940s | 2 | 120 |
| 1950s | 2 | 98 |
| 1960s | 2 | 92 |
| 1970s | 5 | 163 |
| 1980s | 6 | 212 |
| 1990s | 9 | 146 |
| 2000s | 6 | 138 |
| 2010s | 9 | 135 |
| 2020s | 14 | 270 |
Mass-balance (network closure) trend
Structure divrec-history backfill coverage as of the last check: 4% of 5005 schematic-relevant structures. 0 year(s) clear the 30% coverage gate so far -- the trend activates automatically once qualifying years span a full decade. No action needed; the nightly backfill keeps extending the record.
Reach gain/loss shifts (1950–2026)
Mass-balance kinks computed for every summer month back to 1950 (1052 reach-snapshots) — which reaches gain or lose water, and how that has shifted across decades. Each shift is cross-checked against the observation record above: as more diversions became metered, "unaccounted" water shrinks mechanically, which can masquerade as a hydrologic shift.
- BEAVER CREEK NEAR PORTLAND, CO.: reach shifted from -812 cfs to -1599 cfs summer mean (more losing, p=0.012, 18 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [2 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +1.9 ft (1973–1994, no_trend)]
- BADGER CREEK, LOWER STATION, NEAR HOWARD, CO.: reach shifted from +9 cfs to +8 cfs summer mean (more losing, p=0.034, 18 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [2 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -3.2 ft (1980–1990, no_trend)]
Groundwater now has its own tab: 187 monitored well(s), water-table trends, stream corridors, and the advisory depletion screen.
Reservoirs now has its own tab: 28 reservoir(s), end-of-year storage back to 1950, click-to-chart histories.
Cross-gage pattern fingerprint
Over the 52-year window with full coverage (1975–2026), the dominant shared pattern across 3 gage(s) explains 98% of year-to-year variance (almost certainly a basin-wide climate/snowpack driver).
All gages in this window move with the shared pattern -- no localized outlier.
Structures most implicated by reconciliation (as of 2026-09-27)
Which structures' data absorbed the most correction when the current mass-balance snapshot was reconciled -- see the Historical tab for the full picture on any date.
- 1213544 (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- CANON CITY WATER WORKS (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- BACK WASH STILLING POND (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- SETTLING POND A (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- BACK WASH RECOVERY POND (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- CANON CITY & OIL CREEK (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- CANON CITY MILL DITCH (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- GRAVESTOCK DITCH (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- OLD CANON CITY WW INTAKE (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
- FRUITLAND DITCH (diversion): -12.8 cfs (9% of that reach's correction)
Data provenance & quality
Where these numbers come from and how far they can be trusted. Grade C (3/6 points) — the components below are the finding; the letter alone is not. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260928 (imported 2026-10-04) for history, plus the CDSS REST API for current conditions.
| Check | State | What was measured |
|---|---|---|
| gage freshness | stale | newest gage reading is 14 day(s) old (target 7) |
| diversion record | expected-lag | newest diversion record is 346 day(s) old (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears) |
| structure coverage | sparse | 4% of schematic structures have data |
Independent check: PASS — 100.0000% agreement across 673,673 stored values re-checked against DWR's authoritative record (HydroBase_CO_20260707), over 20 structures. 0 disagreement(s) beyond a 0.01 cfs tolerance. Checked 2026-08-19; a rotating sample covers the whole basin across successive runs, and the structures this report cites are checked every time.
Federal cross-check: PASS — 99.86% day-level agreement with USGS's own published records for the same gages, across 11 co-listed station(s) and 140,364 overlapping days (within max(2%, 0.5 cfs) daily). Pre-1950 records at some gages carry known between-agency day-stamp and transcription differences — scored at each year's best ±1-day alignment; residual disagreement is real historical divergence, flagged for review.
22 gage(s) / 184,020 daily values (1888-10-01–2026-09-27); 484 structure(s) with diversion records; 1967 with decreed rights. Methodology has not yet had independent expert review — treat every figure as an advisory screen, not an administrative or legal conclusion.
Groundwater
Source DWR administrative record · verify at DWR groundwater wells ↗ Source DWR administrative record · verify at DWR well permits ↗
1,346 water-level measurements across 187 monitored well(s) — 128 alluvial, 0 bedrock — plus 14 administered well(s) reporting metered pumping.
What is being counted
Observation wells and pumping wells are different populations and are never conflated: water levels come from monitored observation wells, and metered pumping comes from administered wells reporting through diversion records. Click any well to chart its own record.
Well map
3D aquifer x-ray
Every aquifer unit as its own head surface, animated through time.
How the surfaces are built, and what they are not
Alluvial water table on top, Denver Basin members (Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, Laramie–Fox Hills) stacked beneath where measured, interpolated from measured water levels. Units are never mixed; a surface exists only inside its own unit's well coverage, with no extrapolation; thin epochs are suppressed and say why. Vertical scale is exaggerated for readability and z is head elevation in feet. These are measured heads, not a calibrated groundwater model.
Water-table trends
Of 14 well(s) with enough record for a trend test: 3 declining, 3 rising.
| Fastest-declining wells | Setting | ft / decade | Span | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▸ NA04801011BAC | alluvial | -0.68 | 45 yr | 0.0001 |
| ▸ NA04901019BDD | alluvial | -0.32 | 48 yr | 0.0011 |
| ▸ NA04801231BBD | alluvial | -0.28 | 47 yr | 0.0237 |
Stream corridors — the surface connection
Where a reach's gain or loss has shifted, the wells within two miles of its anchoring gage and what their water table did over the same era.
How the corridor is assembled
For each reach whose gain/loss has shifted (Trends tab): the wells within 2 miles of its anchoring gage, their pooled water-table history over the same era, and an advisory Glover screen of lagged stream depletion from nearby metered pumping. v1 proximity = distance to the reach's anchoring gage; segment-based reach join is a flagged upgrade.
BEAVER CREEK NEAR PORTLAND, CO.: 2 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table +1.9 ft (1973–1994, no_trend, p=0.0501)
BADGER CREEK, LOWER STATION, NEAR HOWARD, CO.: 2 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -3.2 ft (1980–1990, no_trend, p=0.2758). Glover screen: 0.0 cfs of nearby metered alluvial pumping → est. lagged depletion 0.0–0.0 cfs (uncalibrated T/S ranges; flagged for SPDSS calibration, AWAS cross-check, and expert review — DWR's AWAS is the authority).
Wells labeled by administrative world before anything else is said about them: tributary alluvium participates in the priority system; designated-basin and Denver Basin bedrock aquifers are governed differently and are excluded from stream-connection reasoning. Read bedrock declines differently too: deep bedrock aquifers recharge negligibly on human timescales, so a falling bedrock level is storage mining — effectively permanent — not a drought response that a wet year undoes. All screens advisory.
61% are constructed wells; 5% tie to a decreed structure. A permit is permission to drill, not a water right; most here are exempt household wells. More in three things called “well”, or turn on the Well permits chip on the map above to see where they sit.
Permits issued here, by year
13,380 located water-supply permits with an issue date, 1907 to 2026; half of them had been issued by 1998, and the busiest year was 1972 with 562. The district’s 1,182 monitoring holes are counted apart: they are drilled to look, not to pump. A permit is not a well, and the year is the date the paper was issued, not a drilling date. The 16,624 above counts every permit on file here; 2,062 of them have no usable location or no issue date and are not in this chart.
water-supply permits issued that year monitoring holes, when shown 2 issued before 1950 are in the table, not the bars
The counts by year, as a table
| Year | Issued | Monitoring holes | Water-supply | Issued through that year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1907 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1952 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 1954 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 1955 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 1956 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 24 |
| 1957 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| 1958 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 29 |
| 1959 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 38 |
| 1960 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 50 |
| 1961 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 55 |
| 1962 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 58 |
| 1963 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 77 |
| 1964 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 94 |
| 1965 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 103 |
| 1966 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 111 |
| 1967 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 113 |
| 1968 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 120 |
| 1969 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 137 |
| 1970 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 156 |
| 1971 | 53 | 0 | 53 | 209 |
| 1972 | 562 | 0 | 562 | 771 |
| 1973 | 215 | 2 | 213 | 986 |
| 1974 | 95 | 0 | 95 | 1,081 |
| 1975 | 45 | 0 | 45 | 1,126 |
| 1976 | 71 | 0 | 71 | 1,197 |
| 1977 | 106 | 0 | 106 | 1,303 |
| 1978 | 208 | 0 | 208 | 1,511 |
| 1979 | 228 | 0 | 228 | 1,739 |
| 1980 | 223 | 0 | 223 | 1,962 |
| 1981 | 195 | 0 | 195 | 2,157 |
| 1982 | 177 | 1 | 176 | 2,334 |
| 1983 | 221 | 1 | 220 | 2,555 |
| 1984 | 184 | 0 | 184 | 2,739 |
| 1985 | 197 | 0 | 197 | 2,936 |
| 1986 | 199 | 0 | 199 | 3,135 |
| 1987 | 155 | 0 | 155 | 3,290 |
| 1988 | 194 | 25 | 169 | 3,484 |
| 1989 | 187 | 0 | 187 | 3,671 |
| 1990 | 201 | 5 | 196 | 3,872 |
| 1991 | 274 | 47 | 227 | 4,146 |
| 1992 | 315 | 60 | 255 | 4,461 |
| 1993 | 349 | 21 | 328 | 4,810 |
| 1994 | 356 | 17 | 339 | 5,166 |
| 1995 | 464 | 38 | 426 | 5,630 |
| 1996 | 534 | 42 | 492 | 6,164 |
| 1997 | 501 | 62 | 439 | 6,665 |
| 1998 | 637 | 162 | 475 | 7,302 |
| 1999 | 508 | 37 | 471 | 7,810 |
| 2000 | 570 | 121 | 449 | 8,380 |
| 2001 | 384 | 5 | 379 | 8,764 |
| 2002 | 588 | 45 | 543 | 9,352 |
| 2003 | 373 | 12 | 361 | 9,725 |
| 2004 | 295 | 15 | 280 | 10,020 |
| 2005 | 299 | 8 | 291 | 10,319 |
| 2006 | 308 | 17 | 291 | 10,627 |
| 2007 | 276 | 33 | 243 | 10,903 |
| 2008 | 206 | 7 | 199 | 11,109 |
| 2009 | 163 | 20 | 143 | 11,272 |
| 2010 | 155 | 30 | 125 | 11,427 |
| 2011 | 158 | 40 | 118 | 11,585 |
| 2012 | 181 | 24 | 157 | 11,766 |
| 2013 | 193 | 32 | 161 | 11,959 |
| 2014 | 161 | 30 | 131 | 12,120 |
| 2015 | 167 | 23 | 144 | 12,287 |
| 2016 | 140 | 17 | 123 | 12,427 |
| 2017 | 200 | 9 | 191 | 12,627 |
| 2018 | 224 | 21 | 203 | 12,851 |
| 2019 | 225 | 25 | 200 | 13,076 |
| 2020 | 244 | 24 | 220 | 13,320 |
| 2021 | 367 | 47 | 320 | 13,687 |
| 2022 | 251 | 7 | 244 | 13,938 |
| 2023 | 192 | 15 | 177 | 14,130 |
| 2024 | 173 | 13 | 160 | 14,303 |
| 2025 | 150 | 8 | 142 | 14,453 |
| 2026 | 109 | 14 | 95 | 14,562 |
Every district in the file on one scale · the whole file, one year at a time · Plate 4 of the Driller’s Atlas.
What drillers reached, township by township
61 PLSS townships here where at least 5 water-supply permits naming the same aquifer filed a depth (10,259 permits in all; the 24 most-drilled are drawn, every one is in the table). Each column is one township, six miles square, on one scale to 1,600 ft below ground: a faint lane spans the 10th to 90th percentile of where the permits naming that aquifer stopped, the solid band their screens, the tick the median. This is the permit file’s view of the ground — the aquifer is the name the driller wrote, the band is where those holes ended — not a geologic map, and a township is as fine as it gets. Monitoring holes are left out. 9 of these townships straddle a district line and are filed here because most of their permits are.
779 · 94% here
684
651
585
501 · 52% here
349
342
318 · 87% here
298
294
265
250
245
229
222
221
216
213
195
194
177
174
155
149
unnamed alluvium fractured crystalline other named faint = where the permits naming it stopped (10th–90th pct) · solid = their screens · tick = median · ft below ground as filed
Every township here, as a table
| Township | Share of its permits in this district | Aquifer named | Permits with a depth | Drilled depth p10 / p50 / p90, ft | Screen top p10 / p50 / p90, ft | Screen bottom p10 / p50 / p90, ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T20S R73W 6th PM | 94% | unnamed | 774 | 100 / 220 / 400 | 47 / 151 / 320 | 100 / 220 / 407 |
| T20S R73W 6th PM | 94% | fractured crystalline | 5 | 212 / 250 / 340 | — | — |
| T48N R10E New Mexico PM | 99% | unnamed | 673 | 45 / 100 / 300 | 23 / 45 / 200 | 52 / 120 / 338 |
| T48N R10E New Mexico PM | 99% | alluvium | 11 | 100 / 300 / 440 | 40 / 50 / 140 | 92 / 125 / 440 |
| T14S R71W 6th PM | 97% | unnamed | 636 | 103 / 300 / 546 | 50 / 220 / 450 | 130 / 300 / 540 |
| T14S R71W 6th PM | 97% | fractured crystalline | 13 | 304 / 460 / 728 | — | — |
| T14S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 561 | 140 / 340 / 600 | 80 / 280 / 520 | 140 / 340 / 595 |
| T14S R70W 6th PM | 100% | fractured crystalline | 23 | 200 / 400 / 736 | — | — |
| T21S R71W 6th PM | 52% | unnamed | 501 | 98 / 249 / 475 | 45 / 188 / 390 | 100 / 245 / 463 |
| T15S R71W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 343 | 140 / 295 / 500 | 60 / 220 / 450 | 149 / 300 / 520 |
| T15S R71W 6th PM | 99% | fractured crystalline | 6 | 400 / 530 / 750 | — | — |
| T20S R72W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 342 | 123 / 300 / 499 | 60 / 195 / 400 | 120 / 290 / 485 |
| T14S R72W 6th PM | 87% | unnamed | 313 | 100 / 260 / 460 | 40 / 180 / 380 | 102 / 260 / 456 |
| T14S R72W 6th PM | 87% | fractured crystalline | 5 | 196 / 300 / 336 | — | — |
| T19S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 289 | 24 / 60 / 379 | 10 / 40 / 400 | 45 / 75 / 508 |
| T19S R70W 6th PM | 100% | other named | 6 | 131 / 375 / 1,535 | — | — |
| T48N R11E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 285 | 49 / 125 / 419 | 25 / 77 / 292 | 60 / 145 / 453 |
| T48N R11E New Mexico PM | 100% | alluvium | 9 | 100 / 145 / 184 | 52 / 70 / 100 | 100 / 140 / 170 |
| T18S R68W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 262 | 62 / 240 / 520 | 54 / 223 / 456 | 110 / 280 / 551 |
| T15S R73W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 249 | 90 / 200 / 464 | 28 / 140 / 352 | 98 / 200 / 464 |
| T19S R73W 6th PM | 96% | unnamed | 244 | 171 / 300 / 500 | 100 / 234 / 400 | 200 / 320 / 500 |
| T19S R68W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 225 | 40 / 100 / 376 | 20 / 92 / 475 | 40 / 140 / 586 |
| T19S R69W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 222 | 20 / 50 / 446 | 13 / 35 / 436 | 23 / 53 / 500 |
| T19S R72W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 220 | 125 / 260 / 500 | 60 / 190 / 400 | 128 / 275 / 480 |
| T15S R72W 6th PM | 97% | unnamed | 212 | 103 / 260 / 469 | 40 / 198 / 385 | 120 / 260 / 448 |
| T20S R71W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 213 | 100 / 240 / 472 | 40 / 160 / 412 | 100 / 255 / 472 |
| T49N R10E New Mexico PM | 99% | unnamed | 194 | 54 / 148 / 404 | 22 / 80 / 220 | 60 / 184 / 404 |
| T21S R69W 6th PM | 95% | unnamed | 189 | 20 / 100 / 507 | 20 / 62 / 385 | 46 / 122 / 556 |
| T21S R69W 6th PM | 95% | other named | 5 | 147 / 240 / 340 | — | — |
| T15S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 175 | 104 / 400 / 685 | 36 / 270 / 540 | 108 / 380 / 637 |
| T47N R11E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 170 | 30 / 106 / 286 | 20 / 82 / 200 | 44 / 125 / 296 |
| T18S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 152 | 32 / 135 / 580 | 20 / 115 / 438 | 44 / 228 / 580 |
| T18S R71W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 145 | 50 / 180 / 403 | 29 / 120 / 352 | 94 / 232 / 504 |
| T17S R73W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 142 | 100 / 294 / 598 | 40 / 175 / 500 | 100 / 260 / 555 |
| T16S R73W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 140 | 160 / 400 / 700 | 115 / 295 / 620 | 160 / 400 / 700 |
| T20S R69W 6th PM | 98% | unnamed | 134 | 40 / 120 / 448 | 20 / 60 / 330 | 47 / 118 / 420 |
| T48N R12E New Mexico PM | 99% | unnamed | 131 | 40 / 152 / 320 | 20 / 84 / 226 | 49 / 168 / 322 |
| T16S R72W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 131 | 120 / 380 / 600 | 120 / 320 / 522 | 153 / 380 / 652 |
| T15S R76W 6th PM | 97% | unnamed | 127 | 116 / 280 / 480 | 64 / 200 / 320 | 150 / 304 / 480 |
| T15S R69W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 119 | 60 / 300 / 564 | 24 / 245 / 443 | 60 / 300 / 546 |
| T49N R12E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 122 | 106 / 290 / 699 | 40 / 150 / 424 | 131 / 290 / 683 |
| T49N R11E New Mexico PM | 99% | unnamed | 115 | 85 / 250 / 600 | 41 / 120 / 398 | 87 / 250 / 599 |
| T18S R69W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 112 | 100 / 280 / 718 | 66 / 210 / 520 | 125 / 275 / 658 |
| T20S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 113 | 175 / 325 / 595 | 127 / 215 / 443 | 175 / 305 / 566 |
| T14S R69W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 106 | 140 / 300 / 570 | 60 / 240 / 486 | 130 / 300 / 560 |
| T16S R71W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 106 | 185 / 390 / 600 | 120 / 280 / 482 | 180 / 380 / 600 |
| T22S R70W 6th PM | 91% | unnamed | 90 | 47 / 210 / 455 | 39 / 145 / 380 | 82 / 220 / 482 |
| T17S R68W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 90 | 100 / 378 / 820 | 43 / 195 / 725 | 132 / 380 / 822 |
| T17S R70W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 80 | 15 / 300 / 1,055 | 39 / 200 / 774 | 100 / 330 / 925 |
| T17S R72W 6th PM | 98% | unnamed | 78 | 76 / 288 / 618 | 32 / 300 / 560 | 100 / 370 / 630 |
| T21S R70W 6th PM | 86% | unnamed | 78 | 124 / 258 / 482 | 60 / 180 / 412 | 123 / 240 / 480 |
| T17S R67W 6th PM | 84% | unnamed | 71 | 60 / 350 / 750 | 64 / 210 / 621 | 173 / 508 / 781 |
| T16S R69W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 61 | 240 / 420 / 600 | 152 / 310 / 514 | 220 / 400 / 594 |
| T50N R12E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 62 | 100 / 251 / 456 | 34 / 118 / 280 | 88 / 268 / 480 |
| T17S R71W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 48 | 218 / 425 / 715 | 160 / 328 / 557 | 248 / 398 / 703 |
| T18S R72W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 43 | 62 / 240 / 400 | 98 / 170 / 240 | 150 / 262 / 400 |
| T51N R11E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 34 | 80 / 186 / 354 | 40 / 135 / 290 | 99 / 200 / 396 |
| T15S R74W 6th PM | 98% | unnamed | 29 | 92 / 260 / 404 | 51 / 140 / 240 | 126 / 240 / 372 |
| T20S R68W 6th PM | 97% | unnamed | 21 | 22 / 100 / 200 | 30 / 40 / 83 | 55 / 80 / 190 |
| T14S R73W 6th PM | 93% | unnamed | 20 | 134 / 220 / 373 | 78 / 152 / 326 | 120 / 232 / 414 |
| T22S R69W 6th PM | 64% | unnamed | 20 | 18 / 100 / 203 | 20 / 76 / 140 | 47 / 166 / 202 |
| T50N R11E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 15 | 8 / 200 / 568 | 3 / 140 / 380 | 6 / 200 / 600 |
| T16S R70W 6th PM | 96% | unnamed | 13 | 102 / 300 / 580 | 204 / 234 / 320 | 239 / 300 / 540 |
| T51N R12E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 13 | 80 / 200 / 306 | 35 / 80 / 180 | 80 / 200 / 230 |
| T15S R75W 6th PM | 77% | unnamed | 12 | 88 / 360 / 571 | 29 / 245 / 314 | 78 / 360 / 583 |
| T51N R10E New Mexico PM | 100% | unnamed | 11 | 60 / 182 / 367 | 40 / 130 / 202 | 60 / 178 / 292 |
| T17S R69W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 10 | 56 / 510 / 680 | 271 / 510 / 620 | 319 / 560 / 688 |
| T18S R73W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 10 | 362 / 632 / 997 | 295 / 548 / 958 | 355 / 612 / 1,042 |
| T19S R71W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 10 | 57 / 168 / 316 | 74 / 133 / 288 | 124 / 203 / 346 |
| T15S R68W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 8 | 50 / 178 / 328 | — | — |
These columns on the map · Plate 6 of the Driller’s Atlas.
The Driller’s Atlas · Plate 2 A cross-section nobody surveyed
Every permitted well within a few miles of the line, drawn from the ground to its drilled depth as the driller filed it. The bright part of each stroke is the perforated casing — where the well actually takes water — coloured by the aquifer named on the permit. Nobody arranged these; the aquifers arrange themselves.
The ground each well hangs from is a 1-km elevation model sampled at the point the permit was spotted, so the profile is real topography smoothed to about a kilometre — peaks are shaved, valleys filled a little — and the depths are the driller’s, measured down from that ground.
Hover or arrow through the strokes to read a well.
The same corridor as a table
| Miles from A | Wells drawn | Median depth (ft) | With a screen | Most-named aquifer | No depth filed | Ground, ft above sea level (median) |
|---|
Bins run from end A to end B of the line. “Most-named aquifer” is the family most often named on permits in the bin, with its count; permits naming no aquifer are the majority of the file and are not a family.
Reservoirs
Source DWR administrative record · verify at DWR structure records ↗
28 reservoir(s) with 50,282 storage measurement(s), 1950–2026. Basin storage as of 2025-10-31 (the record's own end — reservoir records publish ~annually): 12,167 AF across 24 reservoir(s).
Why storage matters to the flow network
Storage change is real water the mass balance must credit — a losing reach beside a filling reservoir isn't losing water, it's banking it.
Reservoir map — how full is each vessel?
What “full” is measured against
Bubble size is proportional to a reservoir's record-high storage. Fill is its last recorded storage as a share of its surveyed capacity (USACE National Inventory of Dams) where a confident NID match exists — the tooltip names the matched dam — and as a share of its own record high otherwise. A wrong capacity would be worse than an honest record high, so only confident joins upgrade.
A dashed teal ring marks reservoirs reporting live DWR telemetry: their fill reflects yesterday's storage, is drawn as a dotted tail on charts, and is treated as provisional until the next verified HydroBase snapshot supersedes it.
A dashed red ring marks a dam under an active storage restriction from DWR's Dam Safety branch — the State Engineer has limited how much it may legally store, so a low fill can be an order, not a drought. Hazard class and inspection condition come from the same record, joined only where the dam carries this reservoir's WDID or a confident NID match — a wrong dam's restriction would be worse than none shown.
Basin storage, end of each water year
End-of-water-year totals; per-year reservoir counts shown because reporting coverage varies -- a total is only comparable to years with similar counts.
Largest reservoirs on record
Click a row to chart its full storage history, or open its dossier for rights, documents and dam-safety facts.
| Reservoir | Last recorded storage (AF) | As of | Full | Dam (DWR Dam Safety) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▸ BRUSH HOLLOW RESERVOIR (1203779) | 2,959 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ ROSEMONT RESERVOIR (1203820) | 2,541 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ ROOSEVELT RESERVOIR (1203698) | 2,523 | 1991-12-04 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ SKAGUAY RESERVIOR (1203511) | 1,978 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ PLEASANT VALLEY DITCH (1200500) | 1,814 | 2011-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ MT PISGAH RESERVOIR (1203505) | 1,568 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ SADDLE MTN RESERVOIR 4 (1203515) | 1,271 | 2007-05-26 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ BISON PARK RESERVOIR (1203913) | 895 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
Snow and runoff
Source Independent agency measurement · fetched 2026-10-16 · verify at NRCS report generator ↗ Source Our computation, scored against a reference · NRCS forecast, graded here against the gage record
Snow-water equivalent, WY2027
A trace of snow at 1 of 1 sites (0.2 in of water at most); the median for the date is zero, so there is no percent to show yet. The snow year begins in October. The new water year began October 1; the chart fills in a day at a time as NRCS publishes each reading.
| SNOTEL site | Elev (ft) | SWE (in) | Median (in) | % of median | Typical peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayden Pass | 10700 | 0.2 | 0.0 | — | April 18 (16.3 in) |
NRCS SNOTEL, daily. Sites are assigned to the district whose boundary contains them — the snow that feeds this district can also sit in a neighboring headwater district.
Two ways a snow year goes wrong (2008–2026)
A bad snow year here comes in two flavors (both called snow droughtA winter that shorts the snowpack. It happens two ways: a dry one, where the snow never comes, and a warm one, where near-normal snow falls but melts off weeks early -- and the river feels them differently.), and the river feels them differently. In 6 of the last 19 winters the snow never came — the pack peaked below 80% of its median. In 1 more, the snow came but left early — a near-normal peak melted out two weeks or more ahead of its usual date, sending the water down before the season needed it.
The snow never came: 2011, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026. The snow left early: 2020.
Computed by this site from 1 SNOTEL site’ full daily records (NRCS AWDB, back to 2008). Each year is measured against each site’s own multi-decade median — not the 1991–2020 normal the chart above uses — so the 1980s grade against a fair baseline. Peak and melt-out need 85% of the season’s days on the record; thin years are dropped, not guessed. Derived from snow measurements alone — it cannot tell dry-from-warm causes apart, only what the snowpack did.
Drought
Source Our computation, no independent reference · computed here from the screened DWR record Source Independent agency measurement · fetched 2026-10-13 · verify at U.S. Drought Monitor ↗
Right now
This is the 10th-driest week 39 in 137 years of record at ARKANSAS RIVER AT CANON CITY (as of 2026-09-21; this week’s flow sits at the 7th percentileRank against the record: a river at its 5th percentile is lower than it was in 95 of the past 100 years on this same date. for the date). On this week’s US Drought Monitor, Teller County is 14% in D3 extreme drought (2026-10-13). The law agrees: the most senior active call leaves 100% of this district’s decreed flow rights junior to the calling right this week.
Every year since 1888, week by week
Each thin row is a year at ARKANSAS RIVER AT CANON CITY; each cell is one week’s flow ranked against the same calendar week of every other year — warm means dry for the date, blue wet, so seasonality cancels and droughts appear as warm bands. Gaps are missing record, never a dry river. Click a year to reconstruct it on the Historical tab.
This year against its analogs
Over the 39 weeks recorded so far, 2026’s weekly trace most resembles 2002 (mean gap 7.4 percentile points; next closest 1931 (11.4), 1902 (11.7)). The analog’s remainder is drawn as context — its ending is what happened to it, not a forecast for this year.
The Drought Monitor’s view since 2000
Mean share of area in each class across Fremont, Pueblo, Teller counties — the counties this district’s gages sit in, which overlap the district imperfectly. The Drought Monitor weighs soils, vegetation and local reports; it is CONTEXT beside the river’s own record above, not the water-rights picture.
The law’s own drought gauge
When water runs short, administration answers: calls reach further back in time, and more decreed rights go junior to the calling right. This is that response, weekly since 2005 — the share of this district’s decreed flow rights junior to the most senior active call. Watch it spike in the named droughts below, and linger after the river recovers.
Computed from DWR’s call record (1018 calls touching this district) against the district’s rights index. Scoping is deliberately coarse — a call’s own district, or districts named in its comments — and this is administration’s RESPONSE, not a per-structure verdict (each dossier’s curtailment card does that, with stream miles). A deepening call can also reflect growing demand, not only shrinking supply.
This basin’s droughts, by its own record
| Drought | Span | Weeks | Trough percentile | Flows recovered | Water table back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the 2020-22 drought | 2021-06-28 → 2022-03-14 | 37 | 25th (2021-10-11) | 3 weeks | not yet (3 of 6 wells still below) |
| the 2020-22 drought | 2020-10-05 → 2021-02-22 | 20 | 29th (2020-11-30) | 58 weeks | not yet (3 of 6 wells still below) |
| the 2018 drought | 2018-08-20 → 2019-05-06 | 37 | 9th (2018-11-26) | 0 weeks | 1 yr (6 wells) |
| the 2012-13 drought | 2012-07-30 → 2013-12-23 | 73 | 5th (2013-01-28) | 9 weeks | 2 yr (7 wells, 1 still below) |
| the 2002 drought | 2004-08-30 → 2005-04-11 | 32 | 20th (2004-10-25) | 45 weeks | 2 yr (19 wells, 2 still below) |
| the 2002 drought | 2002-07-08 → 2004-03-01 | 86 | 1st (2002-11-18) | 103 weeks | 16 yr (8 wells, 3 still below) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1990-04-30 → 1990-12-03 | 31 | 26th (1990-05-28) | 4 weeks | 1 yr (17 wells) |
| the 1981 drought | 1981-06-15 → 1982-01-11 | 30 | 17th (1981-08-24) | 5 weeks | 1 yr (24 wells, 2 still below) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1978-12-18 → 1979-07-30 | 32 | 10th (1979-02-26) | 0 weeks | 2 yr (8 wells, 3 still below) |
| the 1977 drought | 1977-05-02 → 1978-09-18 | 72 | 4th (1977-11-07) | 43 weeks | 7 yr (8 wells, 3 still below) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1974-11-25 → 1975-07-28 | 35 | 13th (1975-03-10) | 0 weeks | 2 yr (7 wells) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1973-01-08 → 1973-08-06 | 30 | 22nd (1973-03-05) | 1 week | — |
| unnamed dry spell | 1969-03-03 → 1969-09-08 | 27 | 22nd (1969-04-21) | 0 weeks | — |
| unnamed dry spell | 1966-11-07 → 1967-10-30 | 51 | 14th (1967-05-08) | 42 weeks | — |
Detected mechanically: the 26-week smoothed percentile below the 30th for at least 20 weeks; recovered on regaining the 50th. The water-table clock compares each monitoring well against its own pre-drought median (the 3 years before onset) and dates the year the median well got back — the aquifer remembers longest, and “still below” is a finding, not a gap. The knobs are stated because the episode list depends on them — a different reasonable choice merges or splits episodes at the edges. Names are attached where an episode overlaps a drought Colorado already talks about.
What drought has cost here
Since 1991, federal crop insurance has paid $3,076,450 in drought-caused claims across Fremont, Pueblo, Teller counties — 6.4% of all insured crop losses there. The worst year was 2012 ($356,114).
USDA crop-insurance indemnities where the recorded cause of loss is drought, summed over the counties this district's gages sit in. Counties overlap water districts imperfectly, and insured-crop claims are a floor on drought damage, not a total. Source: USDA RMA cause-of-loss files.
When this basin claimed its water
Every bar is a year’s new appropriations (1,826 rights across 138 years of shared record), colored by that year’s wetness from the barcode above. Here the correlation is -0.09 — essentially no wet-dry pattern; here, law and settlement set the pace, not the weather. Across the state both behaviors exist: ephemeral southwest basins file after wet demonstrations, transbasin-source basins under drought — and the biggest statewide filing waves sat in the 1950s drought and after 2002, not in the wet 1980s–90s.
Appropriation dates are the CLAIMED initiation of a right, not the courthouse filing date; the record is survivor-biased (abandoned claims are absent, so failed dry-era scrambles are undercounted); and the big 1960s and 2000s spikes sit on legal events — the pre-1969-Act adjudication era and 2000s legislation — not on weather. A correlation here is a description, never a cause.
New to how a dry winter becomes a call on the river? Anatomy of a drought walks the chain in four minutes — snow to rivers to reservoirs to calls to the water table.
Legal
Who serves it, who protects it
Two registers the site fetches on their own schedules, read for this district. Neither is a DWR record; each links its own page and its agency.
Public water systems here
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-06 · verify at EPA SDWIS ↗
18 systems touch this district (18 community systems reporting 56,543 people served, a figure that counts a wholesaler's customers twice); none carries an open health-based violation on EPA's record.
| System | Serves | Source | Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| CANON CITY CITY OF | 34,800 | Surface water | 100% of its area |
| FLORENCE CITY OF | 7,500 | Surface water | 100% of its area |
| PARK CENTER WD | 4,000 | Surface water | 100% of its area |
| PENROSE WD | 3,149 | Surface water | 100% of its area |
| CRIPPLE CREEK CITY OF | 2,817 | Surface water | 100% of its area |
| WILLIAMSBURG TOWN OF | 775 | Purchased surface water | 100% of its area |
| MOUNTAIN MUTUAL WA | 681 | Groundwater | 100% of its area |
| ROCKVALE TOWN OF | 504 | Purchased surface water | 100% of its area |
and 10 more; the full directory filters by district.
Instream-flow rights held by the state
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-11 · verify at CWCB instream flow program ↗
35 reaches over 215.6 miles and 6 natural lake levels, held by the Colorado Water Conservation Board so that water stays in the stream. Every reach, with its schedule and case →
- Badger Creek, 16.0 mi: 2.5 (4/1 - 8/31), 2 (9/1 - 10/31) cfs (appropriated 2007, 07CW0117) · dossier
- Currant Creek, 15.8 mi: 2 (4/1 - 10/31), 1.4 (11/1 - 3/31) cfs (appropriated 2004, 04CW0080) · dossier
- Badger Creek, 14.4 mi: 3 (1/1 - 12/31) cfs (appropriated 1974, 74W4205) · dossier
- South Hardscrabble Creek, 12.0 mi: 1.5 (1/1 - 12/31) cfs (appropriated 1976, 76W4434) · dossier
- Eightmile Creek, 10.9 mi: 1.1 (7/15 - 10/14), 1.1 (4/1 - 5/14), 0.65 (10/15 - 3/31), 2.5 (5/15 - 7/14) cfs (appropriated 1998, 98CW0157) · dossier
- Thirtyone Mile Creek, 10.1 mi: 1 (4/15 - 5/14), 0.5 (5/15 - 10/31), 0.35 (11/1 - 4/14) cfs (appropriated 2004, 04CW0087) · dossier
and 35 more on the district's instream-flow page.
What the water is like -- USGS sensors right now, where it has been sampled, the impaired-waters list, and how the tap water here stands with EPA -- is on the Water quality tab.
Designated groundwater basins are on their own page.
Source Adjudicated record · verify at DWR water-right transactions ↗ Source Adjudicated record · verify at DWR net amounts ↗
Decreed rights on this network run from 1860-05-01 to 2023-12-28. Of the 20 structures with a yield estimate, the median one’s senior right was in priority 62% of a median irrigation season and 10% in a dry one. 25 abandonment screens and 163 compliance flags are listed below as leads for review — a screen is not an abandonment and a flag is not a violation.
Rights on file: 2502 across 1967 structure(s); 337 structure(s) carry 0 court-case references. Advisory reading aids on public DWR data — not administrative or legal conclusions.
Is the river getting harder to divert from?
Over 2003–2025, administration on this district has been tightening: 3 of 3 measures (days under callA senior water right demanding its water, which requires everyone junior on that stream to stop diverting until it is satisfied., calls set, seniorityColorado shares water by date: the earlier the right, the stronger its claim when the river runs short. "First in time, first in right." of the controlling call) are moving toward more administration, none the other way.
The three measures, year by year
One row per whole calendar year inside the call record's coverage (23 years); partly-covered years are omitted rather than reported as quiet. Trend is Mann-Kendall with the same significance gate as every other trend on this site. Counted from DWR's published call record, which begins in the early 2000s: earlier years are absent, not quiet. A rise in the number of calls set can also reflect how finely an administrator records one episode, which is why days under call -- insensitive to that -- is the component to read first. Advisory summary of the public record, not an administrative finding.
| Year | Days under call | Calls set | Controlling priority (median) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 365 | 419 | 1866-05-01 |
| 2015 | 365 | 222 | 1865-10-07 |
| 2016 | 366 | 355 | 1862-04-30 |
| 2017 | 365 | 260 | 1866-10-31 |
| 2018 | 365 | 401 | 1862-04-30 |
| 2019 | 365 | 389 | 1862-03-20 |
| 2020 | 366 | 340 | 1861-05-31 |
| 2021 | 365 | 362 | 1862-04-30 |
| 2022 | 365 | 370 | 1862-11-15 |
| 2023 | 365 | 369 | 1862-04-30 |
| 2024 | 366 | 359 | 1862-04-30 |
| 2025 | 365 | 384 | 1862-04-30 |
Why diversions stopped — call-based explanations
Sustained diversion stops matched to senior administrative calls.
- O'BRIEN DITCH (4 MILE) (1200528) DWR↗ stopped 2025-10-08 (22+ days) — call at CANON HEIGHTS DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- PLEASANT VALLEY DITCH (1200500) DWR↗ stopped 2025-09-30 (31+ days) — call at MARTIN DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- ROSEMONT RES PIPELINE (1200538) DWR↗ stopped 2025-08-26 (7+ days) — call at CHILILI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
- TITSWORTH DITCH (1200531) DWR↗ stopped 2025-08-15 (8+ days) — call at HARDSCRABBLE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- WAFFORD DITCH (1200532) DWR↗ stopped 2025-07-10 (5+ days) — call at LEWELLING-MCCORMICK curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- O'BRIEN DITCH (4 MILE) (1200528) DWR↗ stopped 2025-07-06 (59+ days) — call at LEWELLING-MCCORMICK curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- ADAMS DITCH (4 MILE CRK) (1200527) DWR↗ stopped 2025-07-02 (63+ days) — call at TITSWORTH DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- WATSON DITCH NO 1 (1200520) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-23 (71+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- MARCOTT DITCH (1200522) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-22 (71+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- HOLE IN THE GROUND DITCH (1200526) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-22 (72+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- A L SMITH DITCH (1200556) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-22 (60+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- GARDEN PARK DITCH (1200529) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-17 (79+ days) — call at PULASKI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
Right yield — how often could these rights actually divert?
Share of irrigation-season days each structure's rights were not called out, derived from the 22-year district-scoped call record (senior right = floor, junior right = ceiling constraint). Call-record-derived; DWR's own analysis governs where available.
| Structure | Senior priority | Senior right: median / dry yr | Junior right: median / dry yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| MINNEQUA CANAL (1200511) DWR↗ | 1861-07-22 | 95.1% / 36.7% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| BEAVER PARK DITCH (1200537) DWR↗ | 1861-04-15 | 96.3% / 49.1% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| CANON CITY HYDRAULIC (1200505) DWR↗ | 1863-12-30 | 62.8% / 15.0% | 49.3% / 1.9% |
| COLO LIGHT & POWER P/L (1200506) DWR↗ | 1869-06-12 | 0.2% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| SOUTH CANON DITCH (1200504) DWR↗ | 1862-05-01 | 78.9% / 24.8% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| UNION DITCH (1200835) DWR↗ | 1861-11-30 | 95.1% / 36.7% | 95.1% / 36.7% |
| CANON HEIGHTS DITCH (1200530) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 96.3% / 56.5% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| DEWEESE DYE DITCH (1200672) DWR↗ | 1866-02-28 | 33.9% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| ARK VALLEY RW L & P P/L (1200962) DWR↗ | 1894-05-21 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| CANON CITY & OIL CREEK (1200509) DWR↗ | 1864-05-31 | 61.2% / 4.7% | 8.2% / 0.0% |
| WILSON CREEK DITCH (1200777) DWR↗ | 1896-06-13 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| CC ROYAL GORGE INTAKE (1200928) DWR↗ | 1863-12-30 | 62.8% / 15.0% | 49.3% / 1.9% |
Abandonment radar (25 screens)
Absolute rights with 10+ years of no recorded diversions. Screens only — storage, alternate points, and plan operations can explain nonuse lawfully. And diversion REPORTING itself only reached its modern level ~1970 — idleness that begins before then may be unreported use, not nonuse (flagged † below).
- 1200674 DWR↗ (1908-06-15, 1.5 cfs decreed): last active 1916 — 109 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1970) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- FIRST LEON DITCH (1200524) DWR↗ (1874-06-14, 1.2 cfs decreed): last active 1927 — 98 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1970) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- PAUL WALTON DITCH (1200837) DWR↗ (1911-04-01, 2.7 cfs decreed): last active 1939 — 86 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1970) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- HILLTOP DITCH (1201045) DWR↗ (1937-10-31, 4.1 cfs decreed): last active 1943 — 82 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1970) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- STATE DITCH NO 1 (1200559) DWR↗ (1930-06-01, 2.0 cfs decreed): last active 1958 — 67 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1970) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- KENNEDY DITCH NO 1 (1200775) DWR↗ (1912-04-13, 4.0 cfs decreed): last active 1970 — 55 years idle
- PHELPS DITCH (1200507) DWR↗ (1882-05-31, 2.0 cfs decreed): last active 1972 — 53 years idle
- FIBERBOARD PROD WELL 1 (1205000) DWR↗ (1870-05-31, 0.3 cfs decreed): last active 1972 — 53 years idle
- UETLEY DITCH (1200629) DWR↗ (1871-10-01, 0.5 cfs decreed): last active 1973 — 52 years idle
- GRAVESTOCK DITCH (1200668) DWR↗ (1874-04-01, 1.0 cfs decreed): last active 1973 — 52 years idle
Compliance screens (163 advisory flags)
Screened 269 of 1967 structures with rights (313 have diversion history on file). A flag is a lead for expert review — augmentation plans, exchanges, and free-river conditions can make over-decree diversions lawful and are deliberately not modeled.
- KITTRIDGE DITCH NO 1 (1200521) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 763.0 cfs (max 763.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 4.3 cfs across 12702 recorded day(s).
- ST JOHNS TUNNEL (1200539) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 257.1 cfs (max 411.5) exceeds total decreed absolute 6.4 cfs across 30981 recorded day(s).
- CANON CITY HYDRAULIC (1200505) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 79.4 cfs (max 548.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 77.0 cfs across 66241 recorded day(s).
- COLO LIGHT & POWER P/L (1200506) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 64.0 cfs (max 168.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 54.4 cfs across 60365 recorded day(s).
- BURROUGHS DITCH (1200651) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 51.0 cfs (max 75.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 1.0 cfs across 18002 recorded day(s).
- UNION DITCH (1200835) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 48.0 cfs (max 78.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 46.8 cfs across 68902 recorded day(s).
- CANON CITY & OIL CREEK (1200509) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 31.3 cfs (max 807.1) exceeds total decreed absolute 24.7 cfs across 77633 recorded day(s).
- DAVIS DITCH (1200656) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 22.0 cfs (max 22.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.2 cfs across 15978 recorded day(s).
- CANON CITY WATER WORKS (1200503) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 21.5 cfs (max 39.2) exceeds total decreed absolute 4.7 cfs across 69395 recorded day(s).
- FREMONT COUNTY DITCH (1200510) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 20.1 cfs (max 62.5) exceeds total decreed absolute 17.0 cfs across 57735 recorded day(s).
Seniority (top structures by decreed rate)
| Structure | Senior priority date | Rights | Decreed abs (cfs) | Decreed abs (AF) | Conditional? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MINNEQUA CANAL (1200511) DWR↗ | 1861-07-22 | 8 | 227.3 | 0 | — |
| BEAVER PARK DITCH (1200537) DWR↗ | 1861-04-15 | 38 | 161.1 | 0 | — |
| CANON CITY HYDRAULIC (1200505) DWR↗ | 1863-12-30 | 2 | 77.0 | 0 | — |
| COLO LIGHT & POWER P/L (1200506) DWR↗ | 1869-06-12 | 3 | 54.4 | 0 | — |
| SOUTH CANON DITCH (1200504) DWR↗ | 1862-05-01 | 7 | 48.5 | 0 | — |
| UNION DITCH (1200835) DWR↗ | 1861-11-30 | 1 | 46.8 | 0 | — |
| CANON HEIGHTS DITCH (1200530) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 28 | 33.0 | 0 | — |
| DEWEESE DYE DITCH (1200672) DWR↗ | 1866-02-28 | 14 | 31.8 | 0 | — |
| ARK VALLEY RW L & P P/L (1200962) DWR↗ | 1894-05-21 | 1 | 27.0 | 0 | — |
| CANON CITY & OIL CREEK (1200509) DWR↗ | 1864-05-31 | 2 | 24.7 | 0 | — |
| WILSON CREEK DITCH (1200777) DWR↗ | 1896-06-13 | 1 | 24.0 | 0 | — |
| CC ROYAL GORGE INTAKE (1200928) DWR↗ | 1863-12-30 | 2 | 22.5 | 0 | — |
| PERCIVAL DITCH (1200620) DWR↗ | 1871-06-01 | 3 | 20.7 | 0 | — |
| IDEAL CEMENT PUMP PLANT (1200631) DWR↗ | 1861-05-01 | 11 | 20.7 | 0 | — |
| GIEM DITCH NO 1 (1200693) DWR↗ | 1930-04-01 | 2 | 20.0 | 0 | — |
Recent inventory & legal-document changes
- 2026-10-10 — call set: FORT LYON CANAL (39703)
- 2026-10-10 — call set: JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR (39705)
- 2026-10-10 — call released: 39701
- 2026-10-10 — call released: 39694
- 2026-10-09 — call set: FORT LYON CANAL (39701)
- 2026-10-09 — call released: 39660
- 2026-10-09 — call released: 39675
- 2026-10-09 — call released: 39659
Water-court filings this month (division-wide)
6 applications in the 2026-09 resume for this basin's division — new rights, changes, augmentation plans — from the water clerk's statutory monthly notice (C.R.S. 37-92-302), the earliest public signal of a new claim. Filings are division-wide, not district-filtered: check the county column. Full resume PDF at the Judicial Branch →
Anyone affected may file a statement of opposition until 2026-11-30 (45 days left). C.R.S. 37-92-302(3): due by the last day of the second month following the filing month — computed, not legal advice; confirm with the water clerk.
All 6 filings, with excerpts
| Case | What it asks | County | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|---|
2026CW3042
|
plan for augmentation | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3042; JOHN LITHERLAND, 146 Rainbow Place, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney: Ryan W. Farr, Monson, Cummins, Shohet & Farr, LLC, 13511 Northgate Estates Drive, Sui… |
2026CW3043
|
plan for augmentation | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3043; Previous Case No. 17CW3009 – SILOAM WELL ASSOCIATION, 46 Glenroyal Dr., Pueblo, CO 81005 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney s: Ryan W. Farr, W. James Tilton, Monson, Cummins, Shohet & … |
2026CW3044
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plan for augmentation | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3044, Water Division 2 and CASE NO. 2026CW3152, Water Division 1 ; DAVID D. CURRIN, 17945 Saddlewood Road, Monument, CO 80132 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney: Chris D. Cummins, Monson, Cu… |
2026CW3045
1600574 1600584 1600585 |
reasonable diligence, make absolute | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3045; Previous Case No. 2017CW3063 – CITY OF WALSENBURG c/o City Administrator, 525 South Albert Street, Walsenburg, CO 81089 -2296 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorneys: Jennifer M. DiLalla, … |
2026CW3046
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reasonable diligence | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3046; Previous Case Nos. 01CW160, 12CW39, 20CW3009 – CITY OF PUEBL O, COLORADO, c/o Ms. Beritt Odom, Planning & Community Development Director, 101 W. Riverwalk, Pueblo, CO 81003 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter … |
2026CW3047
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— | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3047; Previous Case Nos. 20CW3004, 13CW3043, 01CW80, 84CW177(B) (Non -Sewered Phase) and 86CW111(B) (Non -Sewered Phase) – BOARD OF WATER WORKS OF PUEBLO, COLORADO, Attention: Executive Director, 319 West Fourth Street, Pueblo, Colorado 81003 (P… |
Active substitute water supply plans in this district
Temporary State Engineer approvals to divert out of priority (37-92-308 / 37-90-137). A structure operating under one behaves differently under a call than its decreed rights alone suggest — the priority tables above don't know about these; this list does. Source: DWR’s active-SWSP register, refreshed nightly.
| Plan | Type | Status | Expires | Structure | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GRISENTI FARMS PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | 2026-12-31 | 1207856 | plan file |
| CRIPPLE CREEK & VICTOR - GRASSY CREEK WELL FIELD | 37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION | Approved | 2027-06-30 | 1207040 | plan file |
| 3 ROCKS RANCH TAILWATER POND | 37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS | Approved | 2027-08-31 | 1207049 | plan file |
| MARTIN MARIETTA RED CANYON MINE | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | — | 1207865 | plan file |
| PARKDALE PROJECT GRAVEL PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Pending | — | 1207022 | plan file |
Water quality
The water itself, in this district
Four registers, each on its own schedule: what USGS sensors read right now, where samples have been taken, which stretches the state lists as impaired, and how the tap water of the systems here stands with EPA. None is a DWR record; each links its own page.
Right now
Source Provisional telemetry · fetched 2026-10-16 · verify at USGS current conditions ↗
2 USGS sensors report temperature, conductance, dissolved oxygen or turbidity from inside this district; provisional readings, never merged into the verified record.
| Site | Temp °C | Cond µS/cm | DO mg/L | Turb FNU | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARKANSAS RIVER AT CANON CITY, CO. | 8.6 | 287 | 2026-10-16 14:15 | ||
| ARKANSAS RIVER AT PORTLAND, CO. | 8.5 | 414 | 2026-10-16 14:30 |
Where water has been sampled
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-08 · verify at Water Quality Portal ↗
The portal lists 8,420 sampling stations in this district's watersheds (Upper Arkansas 11020002, 50% of the district; Arkansas Headwaters 11020001, 49% of the district), of which 241 reported a sample in the last 5 years on the state and tribal side (USGS activity is in the station count, not in that figure). Most active: Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment-WQCD (123), Colorado River Watch (53), USGS Colorado Water Science Center (47). Most-sampled groups: Physical, Inorganics, Major, Metals, Nutrient, Inorganics, Major, Non-metals. Every station as a file ↗
Results themselves are not fetched here; USGS samples added after March 2024 may not be in the portal's legacy profiles yet.
Drinking water
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-07 · verify at EPA SDWIS ↗
18 community systems touch this district. None carries an open health-based violation on EPA's record; 1 is listed by EPA as serious violator. EPA sampled 3 of them for PFAS in 2023–25; none had PFOA or PFOS at or above the 2024 limit.
| System | Serves | EPA record | PFAS (UCMR 5) | Lead, latest 90th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CANON CITY CITY OF | 34,800 | 1 of 12 quarters with a violation | none detected | 0.002 mg/L |
| FLORENCE CITY OF | 7,500 | 3 of 12 quarters with a violation | none detected | 0.0 mg/L |
| PARK CENTER WD | 4,000 | clean, last 12 quarters | none detected | 0.0 mg/L |
| PENROSE WD | 3,149 | 1 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0 mg/L |
| CRIPPLE CREEK CITY OF | 2,817 | 2 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0044 mg/L |
| WILLIAMSBURG TOWN OF | 775 | 4 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.002 mg/L |
| MOUNTAIN MUTUAL WA | 681 | clean, last 12 quarters | not sampled | 0.0017 mg/L |
| ROCKVALE TOWN OF | 504 | 5 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0013 mg/L |
| VICTOR CITY OF | 491 | 8 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0018 mg/L |
| BROOKSIDE TOWN OF | 438 | 12 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.001 mg/L |
and 8 more; the full directory filters by district.
EPA's record carries violations and lead/copper percentiles; nitrate and disinfection by-product results are not in it. UCMR 5 samples are monitoring, not compliance, and the 2024 PFOA/PFOS limits equal its reporting limit, so any detection of those two is at or above them.
Impaired waters
Source Register of another agency · verify at EPA ATTAINS ↗
The state's 303(d) impaired-waters list has not been joined to this basin's own watershed boundary yet, so nothing is shown rather than a guess; the basins with a join carry the full list here. Why the join is geometry, not a name match.
Call cascade
If a call were placed at a given seniority, which structures in this basin would be out of priority, and how much of their decreed rate would be curtailed? Computed from this basin's cached decrees.
What this does and doesn't model. Seniority arithmetic only: every right junior to the call is treated as curtailed. It does not model reach applicability — structures downstream of the calling point are not administered by it — and it applies no futile-call judgment. Read it as “who is junior to this date, and by how much,” not as a prediction of what the Division Engineer would actually order.
Pick a calling right
Real decrees from this basin, ordered by administration number — that is, by actual seniority. The years will look out of order, and that is correct: an administration number encodes the adjudication date as well as the appropriation date, so a right appropriated in 1970 can be administered ahead of one from 1950. A senior call curtails almost everything; a junior one curtails almost nothing.
Or enter an administration number directly
DWR administration numbers encode appropriation and adjudication dates; lower is more senior.
This week's diagnostic
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System status
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Active river calls
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Hydrographs vs. historical envelope
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Anomaly flags
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Snowpack — no snow on the ground at 1 SNOTEL site — normal for the date; the snow year begins in October and typically peaks around April 18. Full snow & runoff picture — charts, forecast history and how the forecasts have verified →
Sites, exceedance bands and sources
| SNOTEL site | Elev (ft) | SWE (in) | Median (in) | % of median | Typical peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayden Pass | 10700 | 0.2 | 0.0 | — | April 18 (16.3 in) |
Snow-water equivalent and medians (1991–2020) from NRCS SNOTEL; seasonal volume forecasts from the NRCS National Water and Climate Center. Sites and forecast points are assigned to the district whose boundary contains them — snowpack that feeds this district can also sit in a neighboring headwater district. Toggle the Snow chip on the map above to see the sites.
Topology cross-check: 7 parent disagreements, 20 sizable streams not on this network (vs DWR's route framework — under review)
This flow network was built mechanically; DWR's Source Water Route Framework disagrees with it in the places below. Each row is a question a human reviewer has not yet answered — not an error verdict. Checked 35 streams, 28 agree. Know this water? Tell us →
| Stream | This site routes it to | DWR routes it to |
|---|---|---|
| Currant Creek | the mainstem | Tallahassee Creek |
| West Fourmile Creek | the mainstem | Fourmile Creek |
| Cottonwood Creek | the mainstem | West Fourmile Creek |
| Slater Creek | the mainstem | West Fourmile Creek |
| Middle Tallahassee Creek | the mainstem | Tallahassee Creek |
| Cottonwood Creek | the mainstem | Currant Creek |
| Fourmile Creek | the mainstem | Hardscrabble Creek |
Sizable streams DWR maps here that this network does not carry:
Grape Creek (59 mi) · Carrol Creek (16 mi) · Copper Gulch (16 mi) · Sixmile Creek (15 mi) · Coal Creek (13 mi) · Chandler Creek (13 mi) · Brush Hollow Creek (11 mi) · Bernard Creek (9 mi)