Hydrohistorian
Arkansas: Portland to Fowler
Arkansas: Portland to Fowler on the ground — the ditches, wells, reservoirs and gages of Water District 14 · 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 well below normal for late September -- 30% of normal flow. No call that the record places on it is active right now. DWR's statements do not settle whether 18 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 23 ranked gages are running at a median 95% of their own long-term norm for this window — 13 below a typical year, 10 at or above. Driest relative to its record: HUERFANO RIVER NEAR BOONE, CO., ranking 1st lowest of 48 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 19:58 from 38 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 38 gages with enough record, 7 are trending down and 0 up, and 5 carry a detected shift. The clearest is Huerfano River below Huerfano Valley Dam near Undercliffe, its annual mean flow changing -3.14 cfs per decade (-28.4% of its median annual flow) over 42 years (p<0.0001). The other 30 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
▸
⚠️
Huerfano River below Huerfano Valley Dam near Undercliffe HUEBAMCO |
↓ decreasing | -3.14 cfs -28.4% | p<0.001 | 42 | ~2008 |
|
▸
⚠️
Arkansas River Tributary above Highway 227 at Pueblo ARK227CO |
↓ decreasing | -15.30 cfs -45.8% | p<0.001 | 21 | ~2015 |
|
▸
Colorado Canal at Mile 3.8 near Boone COLCANCO |
↓ decreasing | -14.59 cfs -14.1% | p=0.024 | 34 | — |
|
▸
Arkansas River at Nepesta ARKANECO |
↓ decreasing | -189.36 cfs -31.7% | p=0.024 | 20 | — |
|
▸
Salt Creek near Mouth below Pueblo SALTMOCO |
↓ decreasing | -3.39 cfs -6.0% | p=0.029 | 17 | ~2015 |
|
▸
Arkansas River near Pueblo ARKPUNCO |
↓ decreasing | -24.54 cfs -3.6% | p=0.045 | 80 | ~1929 |
|
▸
Huerfano River near Boone HUEBOOCO |
↓ decreasing | -3.27 cfs -15.9% | p=0.047 | 46 | — |
|
▸
Arkansas River above Pueblo ARKPUECO |
no clear trend | -33.94 cfs -5.8% | p=0.071 | 60 | ~2000 |
⚠️ 2 gages flagged: their records may have quietly shifted against their neighbours, so treat their trends with caution.
How drift is detected
Every gage's annual flows are compared against each neighbour's as a double-mass curve (Searcy & Hardison, USGS WSP 1541-B); a Pettitt step test looks for a break in the ratio. A gage is flagged only when the breaks AGREE across its references, and a break against an already-suspect gage is never counted against a healthy one. A double-mass break means the ratio between two gages changed, not that either gage is faulty: a new diversion, a reservoir, or an import changes that ratio exactly as a rating shift does. Screening aid for expert review, never a measurement verdict.
30 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. 28 gage(s) and 29 structure(s) report in 2026, but structure reporting only reached half its modern level around ~1965. 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) |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 1 | 0 |
| 1900s | 1 | 0 |
| 1910s | 2 | 6 |
| 1920s | 2 | 6 |
| 1930s | 2 | 6 |
| 1940s | 6 | 10 |
| 1950s | 3 | 9 |
| 1960s | 5 | 11 |
| 1970s | 5 | 12 |
| 1980s | 6 | 15 |
| 1990s | 8 | 12 |
| 2000s | 12 | 20 |
| 2010s | 14 | 26 |
| 2020s | 28 | 27 |
Mass-balance (network closure) trend
Structure divrec-history backfill coverage as of the last check: 1% of 3620 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 (1908 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.
- ARKANSAS RIVER TRIBUTARY ABOVE HWY 227 AT PUEBLO: reach shifted from -1136 cfs to -678 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.032, 22 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [16 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +0.4 ft (1963–2023, no_trend)]
- HUERFANO RIVER NEAR BOONE, CO.: reach shifted from -1917 cfs to -1029 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.004, 45 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [38 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -188.7 ft (1900–2023, increasing)]
- ROCKY FORD HIGHLINE CANAL AT MILE 4.9 NEAR BOONE: reach shifted from +187 cfs to -526 cfs summer mean (more losing, p=0.005, 42 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=-0.65) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [29 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -174.6 ft (1900–2020, increasing)]
- ARKANSAS RIVER ABOVE PUEBLO: reach shifted from -44 cfs to +773 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.005, 28 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.71) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change]
- ARKANSAS RIVER NEAR AVONDALE, CO.: reach shifted from +94 cfs to +1151 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.000, 64 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.66) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [31 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -2.3 ft (1962–2023, no_trend)]
- ARKANSAS RIVER AT NEPESTA BRIDGE NEAR NEPESTA, CO: reach shifted from -228 cfs to +649 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.031, 77 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.42) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [11 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -0.6 ft (1962–2023, no_trend)]
Groundwater now has its own tab: 541 monitored well(s), water-table trends, stream corridors, and the advisory depletion screen.
Reservoirs now has its own tab: 14 reservoir(s), end-of-year storage back to 1950, click-to-chart histories.
Cross-gage pattern fingerprint
Over the 61-year window with full coverage (1966–2026), the dominant shared pattern across 3 gage(s) explains 93% 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.
- 1413315 (diversion): +6.6 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413316 (diversion): +6.6 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1414509 (diversion): +6.6 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413317 (diversion): +6.6 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413318 (diversion): +6.6 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- SCMWD PUMP STATION NO 1 (diversion): -6.4 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413818 (diversion): -6.4 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413301 (diversion): -6.4 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1414596 (diversion): -6.4 cfs (20% of that reach's correction)
- 1413300 (diversion): -6.4 cfs (20% 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 | 1% of schematic structures have data |
Independent check: PASS — 100.0000% agreement across 299,698 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 — 99.21% day-level agreement with USGS's own published records for the same gages, across 15 co-listed station(s) and 161,752 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.
38 gage(s) / 286,758 daily values (1894-10-01–2026-09-27); 82 structure(s) with diversion records; 1361 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 ↗
18,025 water-level measurements across 541 monitored well(s) — 498 alluvial, 0 bedrock — plus 7 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 107 well(s) with enough record for a trend test: 26 declining, 25 rising.
| Fastest-declining wells | Setting | ft / decade | Span | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▸ SC02006335BBC | alluvial | -2.79 | 18 yr | 0.0019 |
| ▸ SC02006436BCD | alluvial | -2.39 | 19 yr | 0.0001 |
| ▸ SC02006328CCD1 | alluvial | -2.19 | 19 yr | 0.0 |
| ▸ SC02006334BAA2 | alluvial | -2.13 | 24 yr | 0.0001 |
| ▸ SC02006334CAA | alluvial | -2.11 | 15 yr | 0.0002 |
| ▸ ARK-008 MAYES WELL NO 1 | alluvial | -2.1 | 26 yr | 0.0112 |
| ▸ SC02006333ABA2 | alluvial | -1.91 | 29 yr | 0.0 |
| ▸ SC02006336DCD1 | alluvial | -1.86 | 22 yr | 0.036 |
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.
ARKANSAS RIVER TRIBUTARY ABOVE HWY 227 AT PUEBLO: 16 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table +0.4 ft (1963–2023, no_trend, p=0.5912). Glover screen: 0.2 cfs of nearby metered alluvial pumping → est. lagged depletion 0.2–0.2 cfs (uncalibrated T/S ranges; flagged for SPDSS calibration, AWAS cross-check, and expert review — DWR's AWAS is the authority).
HUERFANO RIVER NEAR BOONE, CO.: 38 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -188.7 ft (1900–2023, increasing, p=0.0)
ROCKY FORD HIGHLINE CANAL AT MILE 4.9 NEAR BOONE: 29 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -174.6 ft (1900–2020, increasing, p=0.0041)
ARKANSAS RIVER ABOVE PUEBLO: 5 alluvial well(s) nearby
ARKANSAS RIVER NEAR AVONDALE, CO.: 31 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -2.3 ft (1962–2023, no_trend, p=0.4808)
ARKANSAS RIVER AT NEPESTA BRIDGE NEAR NEPESTA, CO: 11 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -0.6 ft (1962–2023, no_trend, p=0.1563)
ARKANSAS RIVER AT MOFFAT STREET AT PUEBLO, CO: 9 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table +1.8 ft (1963–1999, no_trend, p=0.1733). Glover screen: 0.2 cfs of nearby metered alluvial pumping → est. lagged depletion 0.2–0.2 cfs (uncalibrated T/S ranges; flagged for SPDSS calibration, AWAS cross-check, and expert review — DWR's AWAS is the authority).
SALT CREEK NEAR MOUTH BELOW PUEBLO: 67 alluvial well(s) nearby; pooled water table -0.6 ft (1934–2023, no_trend, p=0.1961). Glover screen: 0.1 cfs of nearby metered alluvial pumping → est. lagged depletion 0.1–0.1 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; 21% 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
3,470 located water-supply permits with an issue date, 1950 to 2026; half of them had been issued by 1992, and the busiest year was 1960 with 229. The district’s 1,635 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 7,481 above counts every permit on file here; 2,376 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
The counts by year, as a table
| Year | Issued | Monitoring holes | Water-supply | Issued through that year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 1953 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 29 |
| 1954 | 53 | 0 | 53 | 82 |
| 1955 | 46 | 0 | 46 | 128 |
| 1956 | 34 | 0 | 34 | 162 |
| 1957 | 33 | 0 | 33 | 195 |
| 1958 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 203 |
| 1959 | 100 | 0 | 100 | 303 |
| 1960 | 229 | 0 | 229 | 532 |
| 1961 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 542 |
| 1962 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 555 |
| 1963 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 574 |
| 1964 | 29 | 0 | 29 | 603 |
| 1965 | 37 | 0 | 37 | 640 |
| 1966 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 658 |
| 1967 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 677 |
| 1968 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 695 |
| 1969 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 713 |
| 1970 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 726 |
| 1971 | 32 | 0 | 32 | 758 |
| 1972 | 184 | 0 | 184 | 942 |
| 1973 | 91 | 0 | 91 | 1,033 |
| 1974 | 46 | 0 | 46 | 1,079 |
| 1975 | 25 | 0 | 25 | 1,104 |
| 1976 | 59 | 0 | 59 | 1,163 |
| 1977 | 107 | 0 | 107 | 1,270 |
| 1978 | 47 | 0 | 47 | 1,317 |
| 1979 | 42 | 0 | 42 | 1,359 |
| 1980 | 38 | 0 | 38 | 1,397 |
| 1981 | 28 | 0 | 28 | 1,425 |
| 1982 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 1,444 |
| 1983 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 1,463 |
| 1984 | 20 | 0 | 20 | 1,483 |
| 1985 | 29 | 0 | 29 | 1,512 |
| 1986 | 37 | 0 | 37 | 1,549 |
| 1987 | 40 | 1 | 39 | 1,589 |
| 1988 | 27 | 4 | 23 | 1,616 |
| 1989 | 43 | 17 | 26 | 1,659 |
| 1990 | 78 | 38 | 40 | 1,737 |
| 1991 | 74 | 31 | 43 | 1,811 |
| 1992 | 81 | 56 | 25 | 1,892 |
| 1993 | 50 | 17 | 33 | 1,942 |
| 1994 | 78 | 53 | 25 | 2,020 |
| 1995 | 132 | 3 | 129 | 2,152 |
| 1996 | 176 | 29 | 147 | 2,328 |
| 1997 | 143 | 65 | 78 | 2,471 |
| 1998 | 114 | 51 | 63 | 2,585 |
| 1999 | 104 | 21 | 83 | 2,689 |
| 2000 | 91 | 24 | 67 | 2,780 |
| 2001 | 482 | 371 | 111 | 3,262 |
| 2002 | 194 | 106 | 88 | 3,456 |
| 2003 | 159 | 29 | 130 | 3,615 |
| 2004 | 130 | 84 | 46 | 3,745 |
| 2005 | 95 | 49 | 46 | 3,840 |
| 2006 | 55 | 10 | 45 | 3,895 |
| 2007 | 45 | 11 | 34 | 3,940 |
| 2008 | 53 | 28 | 25 | 3,993 |
| 2009 | 37 | 9 | 28 | 4,030 |
| 2010 | 43 | 13 | 30 | 4,073 |
| 2011 | 58 | 21 | 37 | 4,131 |
| 2012 | 66 | 18 | 48 | 4,197 |
| 2013 | 49 | 15 | 34 | 4,246 |
| 2014 | 58 | 25 | 33 | 4,304 |
| 2015 | 68 | 21 | 47 | 4,372 |
| 2016 | 93 | 71 | 22 | 4,465 |
| 2017 | 86 | 21 | 65 | 4,551 |
| 2018 | 102 | 51 | 51 | 4,653 |
| 2019 | 106 | 69 | 37 | 4,759 |
| 2020 | 70 | 42 | 28 | 4,829 |
| 2021 | 55 | 28 | 27 | 4,884 |
| 2022 | 34 | 10 | 24 | 4,918 |
| 2023 | 34 | 22 | 12 | 4,952 |
| 2024 | 21 | 1 | 20 | 4,973 |
| 2025 | 103 | 80 | 23 | 5,076 |
| 2026 | 29 | 20 | 9 | 5,105 |
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
35 PLSS townships here where at least 5 water-supply permits naming the same aquifer filed a depth (4,631 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 2,500 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. 23 of these townships straddle a district line and are filed here because most of their permits are.
1,285 · 80% here
468 · 77% here
347 · 68% here
334 · 74% here
285 · 91% here
201
199
180 · 89% here
143
133
125 · 52% here
124 · 94% here
111 · 91% here
104 · 79% here
103 · 59% here
53 · 52% here
53
49 · 83% here
42 · 89% here
36 · 79% here
30 · 57% here
29
29
23 · 72% here
unnamed alluvium 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T21S R64W 6th PM | 80% | alluvium | 13 | 22 / 34 / 35 | 17 / 19 / 20 | 32 / 34 / 36 |
| T21S R64W 6th PM | 80% | unnamed | 1,271 | 25 / 35 / 50 | 12 / 20 / 33 | 25 / 35 / 50 |
| T21S R63W 6th PM | 77% | unnamed | 468 | 26 / 38 / 60 | 16 / 24 / 40 | 28 / 39 / 62 |
| T20S R65W 6th PM | 68% | unnamed | 345 | 20 / 31 / 162 | 10 / 19 / 122 | 19 / 34 / 166 |
| T20S R64W 6th PM | 74% | unnamed | 331 | 24 / 40 / 69 | 20 / 26 / 43 | 34 / 44 / 61 |
| T21S R62W 6th PM | 91% | unnamed | 281 | 28 / 40 / 52 | 11 / 24 / 40 | 28 / 42 / 60 |
| T20S R62W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 201 | 23 / 45 / 60 | 10 / 28 / 42 | 22 / 42 / 58 |
| T21S R65W 6th PM | 95% | unnamed | 192 | 22 / 36 / 581 | 4 / 20 / 520 | 15 / 35 / 580 |
| T21S R65W 6th PM | 95% | other named | 7 | 571 / 580 / 886 | 490 / 500 / 510 | 560 / 580 / 593 |
| T21S R61W 6th PM | 89% | unnamed | 178 | 30 / 40 / 54 | 14 / 20 / 30 | 26 / 40 / 55 |
| T20S R63W 6th PM | 99% | unnamed | 143 | 28 / 45 / 58 | 16 / 25 / 34 | 35 / 42 / 54 |
| T21S R67W 6th PM | 96% | unnamed | 110 | 250 / 485 / 575 | 208 / 410 / 506 | 258 / 480 / 565 |
| T21S R67W 6th PM | 96% | other named | 23 | 250 / 491 / 571 | 210 / 460 / 505 | 249 / 488 / 545 |
| T22S R66W 6th PM | 52% | other named | 13 | 368 / 525 / 545 | 422 / 485 / 525 | 480 / 532 / 545 |
| T22S R66W 6th PM | 52% | unnamed | 112 | 302 / 528 / 599 | 258 / 460 / 516 | 354 / 530 / 580 |
| T21S R68W 6th PM | 94% | unnamed | 92 | 151 / 430 / 609 | 99 / 380 / 545 | 165 / 460 / 584 |
| T21S R68W 6th PM | 94% | other named | 31 | 385 / 510 / 739 | 168 / 452 / 692 | 265 / 494 / 739 |
| T22S R60W 6th PM | 91% | unnamed | 108 | 25 / 37 / 52 | 10 / 22 / 39 | 27 / 40 / 52 |
| T22S R67W 6th PM | 79% | other named | 8 | 214 / 280 / 483 | 140 / 222 / 335 | 203 / 278 / 371 |
| T22S R67W 6th PM | 79% | unnamed | 96 | 166 / 291 / 700 | 160 / 270 / 644 | 191 / 305 / 700 |
| T22S R68W 6th PM | 59% | unnamed | 102 | 20 / 305 / 700 | 20 / 300 / 600 | 40 / 400 / 700 |
| T16S R62W 6th PM | 52% | unnamed | 48 | 78 / 150 / 298 | 60 / 93 / 180 | 78 / 165 / 306 |
| T20S R61W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 52 | 36 / 65 / 72 | 20 / 38 / 61 | 52 / 65 / 81 |
| T22S R63W 6th PM | 83% | unnamed | 45 | 42 / 75 / 1,152 | 29 / 40 / 828 | 52 / 100 / 980 |
| T21S R66W 6th PM | 89% | unnamed | 35 | 25 / 550 / 1,038 | 480 / 520 / 596 | 525 / 600 / 750 |
| T21S R66W 6th PM | 89% | other named | 7 | 531 / 550 / 670 | — | — |
| T19S R60W 6th PM | 79% | unnamed | 36 | 34 / 79 / 124 | 10 / 40 / 86 | 35 / 79 / 128 |
| T23S R63W 6th PM | 57% | unnamed | 25 | 29 / 500 / 686 | 19 / 255 / 465 | 28 / 365 / 538 |
| T23S R63W 6th PM | 57% | other named | 5 | 527 / 550 / 883 | — | — |
| T18S R61W 6th PM | 95% | unnamed | 29 | 48 / 98 / 121 | 29 / 50 / 81 | 76 / 100 / 167 |
| T21S R60W 6th PM | 96% | unnamed | 29 | 28 / 44 / 86 | 19 / 31 / 53 | 37 / 49 / 103 |
| T20S R67W 6th PM | 72% | unnamed | 16 | 148 / 400 / 2,488 | 108 / 359 / 1,039 | 214 / 410 / 1,173 |
| T20S R67W 6th PM | 72% | other named | 7 | 562 / 562 / 690 | 495 / 502 / 507 | 562 / 562 / 710 |
| T20S R60W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 21 | 40 / 70 / 114 | 18 / 40 / 72 | 47 / 60 / 108 |
| T24S R64W 6th PM | 43% | unnamed | 19 | 53 / 500 / 664 | 218 / 405 / 575 | 269 / 510 / 604 |
| T19S R61W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 18 | 54 / 86 / 115 | 25 / 55 / 74 | 53 / 97 / 117 |
| T22S R62W 6th PM | 65% | unnamed | 16 | 28 / 437 / 1,678 | — | — |
| T18S R63W 6th PM | 89% | unnamed | 13 | 23 / 47 / 296 | 8 / 60 / 162 | 25 / 120 / 364 |
| T23S R64W 6th PM | 63% | unnamed | 10 | 55 / 280 / 355 | 20 / 58 / 219 | 60 / 98 / 279 |
| T24S R62W 6th PM | 79% | unnamed | 10 | 97 / 265 / 812 | — | — |
| T19S R62W 6th PM | 93% | unnamed | 9 | 25 / 94 / 120 | — | — |
| T22S R61W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 9 | 44 / 1,350 / 1,482 | — | — |
| T23S R61W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 8 | 743 / 1,120 / 1,216 | — | — |
| T23S R62W 6th PM | 100% | unnamed | 8 | 257 / 638 / 896 | — | — |
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 ↗
14 reservoir(s) with 17,676 storage measurement(s), 1950–2026. Basin storage as of 2025-10-31 (the record's own end — reservoir records publish ~annually): 411 AF across 1 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) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▸ PUEBLO RESERVOIR (1403526) | 260,262 | 2018-01-23 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ LAKE MEREDITH (1403525) | 37,095 | 1997-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ LAKE HENRY (1403524) | 5,406 | 1997-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ BEEMAN RESERVOIR (1403520) | 1,096 | 1997-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ DOTSON RESERVOIR (1403849) | 1,020 | 2010-04-23 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ HUERFANO VALLEY RES (1403821) | 975 | 1997-04-01 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ STONEWALL SPRINGS SOUTH RESERVOIR (1403593) | 411 | 2025-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
| ▸ LAKE MINNEQUA (1503693) | 400 | 2018-10-31 | — | — | dossier → |
Drought
Source Our computation, no independent reference · computed here from the screened DWR record Source Independent agency measurement · fetched 2026-10-06 · verify at U.S. Drought Monitor ↗
Right now
This is the 27th-driest week 39 in 91 years of record at ARKANSAS RIVER AT NEPESTA BRIDGE NEAR NEPESTA, CO (as of 2026-09-21; this week’s flow sits at the 30th 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, Pueblo County is 53% in D2 severe drought (2026-10-06). The law agrees: the most senior active call leaves 0% of this district’s decreed flow rights junior to the calling right this week.
Every year since 1935, week by week
Each thin row is a year at ARKANSAS RIVER AT NEPESTA BRIDGE NEAR NEPESTA, CO; 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 10.5 percentile points; next closest 2012 (14.4), 1954 (16.9)). 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 Pueblo county — 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 2002 — 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 (254 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unnamed dry spell | 2026-03-16 → 2026-09-21 | 27 | 4th (2026-08-03) | not yet | — |
| unnamed dry spell | 2023-12-11 → 2024-05-20 | 23 | 25th (2024-02-12) | not yet | — |
| the 2020-22 drought | 2020-09-14 → 2023-07-03 | 146 | 12th (2021-02-15) | not yet | — |
| the 2018 drought | 2018-07-23 → 2019-06-17 | 47 | 14th (2018-11-26) | 4 weeks | not yet (16 of 22 wells still below) |
| the 2012-13 drought | 2014-03-31 → 2014-08-18 | 20 | 22nd (2014-05-12) | 3 weeks | 1 yr (46 wells, 4 still below) |
| the 2012-13 drought | 2012-04-30 → 2013-11-18 | 81 | 3rd (2013-01-07) | 42 weeks | 3 yr (47 wells, 11 still below) |
| the 2012-13 drought | 2011-02-28 → 2011-08-22 | 25 | 24th (2011-05-02) | 3 weeks | 5 yr (47 wells, 11 still below) |
| the 2002 drought | 2002-04-22 → 2004-09-06 | 124 | 4th (2002-10-21) | 109 weeks | 5 yr (15 wells, 4 still below) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1978-12-04 → 1979-06-18 | 28 | 17th (1979-01-29) | 2 weeks | 2 yr (65 wells, 11 still below) |
| the 1977 drought | 1977-07-18 → 1978-08-14 | 56 | 12th (1977-10-31) | 46 weeks | 6 yr (75 wells, 27 still below) |
| unnamed dry spell | 1974-09-02 → 1975-03-03 | 26 | 21st (1974-11-25) | 20 weeks | 18 yr (93 wells, 41 still below) |
| the 1963-64 drought | 1963-07-15 → 1964-02-17 | 31 | 22nd (1963-08-26) | 64 weeks | 6 yr (78 wells, 26 still below) |
| the 1950s drought | 1956-09-03 → 1957-06-03 | 39 | 14th (1956-12-17) | 0 weeks | 1 yr (6 wells) |
| the 1950s drought | 1954-06-21 → 1955-11-14 | 73 | 11th (1954-11-22) | 17 weeks | 2 yr (6 wells) |
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 Pueblo county — 6.5% 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 (1,032 rights across 92 years of shared record), colored by that year’s wetness from the barcode above. Here the correlation is +0.11 — 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 ↗
6 systems touch this district (6 community systems reporting 127,157 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PUEBLO BOARD OF WW | 114,070 | Surface water | 44% of its area |
| ST CHARLES MESA WD | 9,690 | Surface water | 91% of its area |
| AVONDALE WSD | 1,615 | Groundwater | 100% of its area |
| FOWLER TOWN OF | 1,169 | Groundwater under the influence of surface water | 24% of its area |
| BAXTER WATER AND SERVICES | 350 | Groundwater | 100% of its area |
| BOONE TOWN OF | 263 | Groundwater | 100% of its area |
Instream-flow rights held by the state
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-11 · verify at CWCB instream flow program ↗
The Board's tabulation lists no instream-flow reach or natural lake level in this district. Statewide →
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 1861-04-01 to 2022-11-15. Of the 20 structures with a yield estimate, the median one’s senior right was in priority 0% of a median irrigation season and 0% in a dry one. 2 abandonment screens and 13 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: 1611 across 1361 structure(s); 1083 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.
- COMANCHE PUMP STATION (1400618) DWR↗ stopped 2025-08-14 (5+ days) — call at HARDSCRABBLE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- PBWW NORTHSIDE INTAKE (1400589) DWR↗ stopped 2025-07-23 (16+ days) — call at LEWELLING-MCCORMICK curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
- COLLIER DITCH (1400538) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-23 (64+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- EXCELSIOR DITCH (1400539) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-23 (64+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- COMANCHE PUMP STATION (1400618) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-23 (5+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗ stopped 2025-06-12 (141+ days) — call at LUCERO DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗ stopped 2025-05-22 (10+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- ELLIS DITCH (1400654) DWR↗ stopped 2025-05-20 (15+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- COLLIER DITCH (1400538) DWR↗ stopped 2025-04-30 (7+ days) — call at FERNANDEZ DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- ELLIS DITCH (1400654) DWR↗ stopped 2025-03-15 (46+ days) — call at CHILILI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗ stopped 2025-03-13 (36+ days) — call at TITSWORTH DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
- ELLIS DITCH (1400654) DWR↗ stopped 2024-12-31 (54+ days) — call at BACA IRRIGATING 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BESSEMER DITCH (1400533) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 96.3% / 56.5% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| 1400713 DWR↗ | 1926-04-14 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| WELTON DITCH (1400661) DWR↗ | 1861-04-15 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| EXCELSIOR DITCH (1400539) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS CENTRAL RESERVOIR (1403595) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS SOUTH RESERVOIR (1403593) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS EAST RESERVOIR (1403596) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗ | 1888-02-02 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| 1400782 DWR↗ | 1993-08-17 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| PBWW SOUTHSIDE INTAKE (1400590) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 96.3% / 56.5% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| PUEBLO FISH HATCHERY PIPELINE (1400737) DWR↗ | 1987-12-31 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
| COLLIER DITCH (1400538) DWR↗ | 1887-03-10 | 0.0% / 0.0% | 0.0% / 0.0% |
Abandonment radar (2 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 ~1965 — idleness that begins before then may be unreported use, not nonuse (flagged † below).
- HERMOSILLA DITCH (1400656) DWR↗ (1863-04-25, 8.0 cfs decreed): last active 1924 — 41 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1965) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
- MEADOWBROOK WELL "A" (1405129) DWR↗ (1967-10-15, 0.4 cfs decreed): last active 1949 — 16 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~1965) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
Compliance screens (13 advisory flags)
Screened 36 of 1361 structures with rights (42 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.
- HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 95.7 cfs (max 1000.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 60.0 cfs across 32209 recorded day(s).
- PBWW NORTHSIDE INTAKE (1400589) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 69.6 cfs (max 597.6) exceeds total decreed absolute 25.5 cfs across 77277 recorded day(s).
- 1400782 DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 50.4 cfs (max 55.4) exceeds total decreed absolute 33.8 cfs across 2810 recorded day(s).
- PBWW SOUTHSIDE INTAKE (1400590) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 36.1 cfs (max 110.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 31.8 cfs across 47678 recorded day(s).
- COMANCHE PUMP STATION (1400618) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 30.4 cfs (max 87.2) exceeds total decreed absolute 19.9 cfs across 48164 recorded day(s).
- 1400591 DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 26.0 cfs (max 65.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 11.8 cfs across 30536 recorded day(s).
- 1400663 DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 23.7 cfs (max 45.1) exceeds total decreed absolute 1.5 cfs across 34985 recorded day(s).
- SIX MILE ARROYO DITCH (1400553) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 4.0 cfs (max 4.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.0 cfs across 4296 recorded day(s).
- 1400534 DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 2.9 cfs (max 3.6) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.9 cfs across 27918 recorded day(s).
- HAVER DITCH EXTENSION (1400577) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 2.5 cfs (max 2.5) exceeds total decreed absolute 1.5 cfs across 1654 recorded day(s).
Seniority (top structures by decreed rate)
| Structure | Senior priority date | Rights | Decreed abs (cfs) | Decreed abs (AF) | Conditional? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BESSEMER DITCH (1400533) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 22 | 392.6 | 0 | — |
| 1400713 DWR↗ | 1926-04-14 | 2 | 230.0 | 0 | — |
| WELTON DITCH (1400661) DWR↗ | 1861-04-15 | 3 | 131.2 | 0 | — |
| EXCELSIOR DITCH (1400539) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 3 | 120.0 | 0 | — |
| HUERFANO VALLEY DITCH (1400657) DWR↗ | 1888-02-02 | 2 | 60.0 | 0 | — |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS SOUTH RESERVOIR (1403593) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 3 | 60.0 | 0 | yes |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS CENTRAL RESERVOIR (1403595) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 3 | 60.0 | 0 | yes |
| STONEWALL SPRINGS EAST RESERVOIR (1403596) DWR↗ | 1887-05-01 | 3 | 60.0 | 0 | yes |
| 1400782 DWR↗ | 1993-08-17 | 1 | 33.8 | 0 | yes |
| PBWW SOUTHSIDE INTAKE (1400590) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 16 | 31.8 | 0 | — |
| PUEBLO FISH HATCHERY PIPELINE (1400737) DWR↗ | 1987-12-31 | 1 | 31.0 | 0 | — |
| COLLIER DITCH (1400538) DWR↗ | 1887-03-10 | 2 | 26.0 | 0 | — |
| PBWW NORTHSIDE INTAKE (1400589) DWR↗ | 1861-04-01 | 16 | 25.5 | 0 | — |
| ELLIS DITCH (1400654) DWR↗ | 1888-12-12 | 2 | 20.0 | 0 | — |
| COMANCHE PUMP STATION (1400618) DWR↗ | 1870-03-21 | 8 | 19.9 | 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)
3 applications in the 2026-08 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 2026-10-31 (18 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 3 filings, with excerpts
| Case | What it asks | County | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|---|
2025CW3012
|
plan for augmentation, new underground right | — | CASE NO. 2025CW3012; TITAN AU, INC., 8480 E. Orchard Rd., Suite 4900, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney: John T. Howe, Hoskin, Farina & Kampf, P.C., 200 Grand Avenue, Suite 400… |
2026CW3037
1603718 |
— | — | CASE NO. 2026CW3037; MARIA LAKES GRAZING ASSOCIATION, LLC, c/o Donald E. Siecke, Manager, 7343 S. Alton Way, Ste. 100, Centennial, CO 80122 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorneys: Karl D. Ohlsen, Beth Ann J. … |
2026CW3138
|
reasonable diligence | OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE IN PARK | CASE NUMBER 2026CW3138 MICHAEL STALL, 77 Sugar Creek Center Blvd., # 210, Sugar Land, TX, 77478. Philip E. Lopez, Eric K. Trout, Fairfield and Woods, P.C., 1801 California St, Suite 2600, Denver, CO, 80202. APPLICATION FOR A FINDING OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE IN … |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAVERNCLAUS LLC | 37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS | Approved | 2026-04-30 | 1407009 | plan file |
| FILLMORE GRAVEL PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | — | 1407853 | plan file |
| MARTIN MARIETTA'S RICH PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | — | 1407808 | plan file |
| PUEBLO EAST PIT AT EVANS #2 | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | — | 1407820 | plan file |
| ST BARBARA SAND & GRAVEL PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Approved | — | 1407803 | plan file |
| AMRIZE RED CREEK QUARRY - 25CW3032 | 37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION | Pending | — | 1407852 | plan file |
| PUEBLO EAST PIT | 37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN | Pending | — | 1407801 | plan file |
| AGRA - COLORADO CANAL RETURN FLOWS | 37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS | Division Review | — | 1707808 | 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 2026-10-13 · 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 R. AT ST CHARLES MESA DIVER. AT PUEBLO,CO ↗ | 17.4 | 965 | 2026-10-13 17:45 | ||
| ARKANSAS RIVER NEAR AVONDALE, CO. | 18.6 | 1030 | 8.1 | 2026-10-13 18:00 |
Where water has been sampled
Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-08 · verify at Water Quality Portal ↗
The portal lists 3,751 sampling stations in this district's watersheds (Upper Arkansas-Lake Meredith 11020005, 43% of the district; Upper Arkansas 11020002, 27% of the district; Huerfano 11020006, 19% of the district; Chico 11020004, 10% of the district), of which 191 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 (92), USGS Colorado Water Science Center (64), Colorado River Watch (22). Most-sampled groups: Physical, Nutrient, Organics, Other, 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 ↗
6 community systems touch this district. None carries an open health-based violation on EPA's record. EPA sampled 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUEBLO BOARD OF WW | 114,070 | clean, last 12 quarters | none detected | 0.0023 mg/L |
| ST CHARLES MESA WD | 9,690 | clean, last 12 quarters | 1 detected, under the limits | 0.002 mg/L |
| AVONDALE WSD | 1,615 | clean, last 12 quarters | not sampled | 0.0056 mg/L |
| FOWLER TOWN OF | 1,169 | 9 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0 mg/L |
| BAXTER WATER AND SERVICES | 350 | 12 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.002 mg/L |
| BOONE TOWN OF | 263 | 5 of 12 quarters with a violation | not sampled | 0.0045 mg/L |
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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Topology cross-check: 2 parent disagreements, 11 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 13 streams, 11 agree. Know this water? Tell us →
| Stream | This site routes it to | DWR routes it to |
|---|---|---|
| Spring Branch | the mainstem | Chico Creek |
| Galbeth Creek | the mainstem | Rock Creek |
Sizable streams DWR maps here that this network does not carry:
Chicosa Creek (28 mi) · Kramer Creek (23 mi) · Rock Creek (21 mi) · Salt Creek (20 mi) · Haynes Creek (20 mi) · Peck Creek (18 mi) · Rush Creek (14 mi) · Boggs Creek (12 mi)