Arkansas: Las Animas to Stateline

Evolution of the network

This year, in context

In the weeks around 2026-07-06 (the newest reading on file), flows at the 45 ranked gages are running at a median 0% of their own long-term norm for this window — 45 below a typical year, 0 at or above. Driest relative to its record: AMITY CANAL, ranking 1st lowest of 38 years.

How this comparison is made

Each gage's mean flow over the 3 days either side of 2026-07-06, 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 2026-08-30 19:41 from 62 gage(s) with cached period-of-record data. The series is each gage's annual mean flow in cfs (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 62 gages with enough record, 5 are trending down and 1 up, and 7 carry a detected shift. The clearest is Arkansas River at Garden City, Ks, its annual mean flow changing -12.07 cfs per decade (-23.5% of its median annual flow) over 86 years (p<0.0001). The other 53 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
▸ ⚠️ Arkansas River at Garden City, Ks☆ ARKGARKS	↓ decreasing	-12.07 cfs -23.5%	p<0.001	86	~2001
▸ Arkansas River at Syracuse, Ks☆ ARKSYRKS	↓ decreasing	-19.13 cfs -11.4%	p=0.002	107	~1967
▸ ⚠️ Center Farm Augmentation Station☆ CEFAUGCO	↓ decreasing	-3.91 cfs -59.4%	p=0.002	20	~2011
▸ Hyde Ditch☆ HYDDITCO	↑ increasing	+3.62 cfs +67.3%	p=0.017	16	—
▸ Arkansas River at Lamar☆ ARKLAMCO	↓ decreasing	-5.29 cfs -6.2%	p=0.026	107	~1950
▸ Gageby Creek below Fort Lyon Canal☆ GACBFLCO	↓ decreasing	-1.95 cfs -96.3%	p=0.030	19	—
▸ Arkansas River near Granada☆ ARKGRACO	no clear trend	-17.33 cfs -17.1%	p=0.067	45	~2001
▸ Wild Horse Creek at Holly☆ WILHOLCO	no clear trend	+3.26 cfs +28.4%	p=0.378	23	~1940
▸ Holly Drain near Holly☆ HOLHOLCO	no clear trend	+4.11 cfs +12.2%	p=0.386	26	~1941

⚠️ 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.

53 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. 49 gage(s) and 82 structure(s) report in 2026, but structure reporting only reached half its modern level around ~2017. 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)
1900s	1	0
1910s	2	0
1920s	6	0
1930s	6	0
1940s	10	10
1950s	5	12
1960s	5	11
1970s	6	18
1980s	6	8
1990s	12	12
2000s	16	10
2010s	24	44
2020s	48	79

Mass-balance (network closure) trend

Structure divrec-history backfill coverage as of the last check: 2% of 3851 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 (2123 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.

• FORT BENT DITCH: reach shifted from -468 cfs to +43 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.030, 19 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [16 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table -0.7 ft (1961–2023, no_trend)]
• GRANADA IRRIGATION CANAL AUGMENTATION STATION EAST: reach shifted from -223 cfs to -187 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.020, 11 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.61) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [31 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +619.3 ft (1955–2023, decreasing)]
• AMITY CANAL: reach shifted from -370 cfs to +243 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.003, 39 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.78) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [28 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +140256.0 ft (1955–2018, decreasing)]
• WILD HORSE CREEK ABOVE HOLLY, CO: reach shifted from -400 cfs to -21 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.000, 25 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [measurement-evolution caution: this shift co-moves with the growth of the gage/metering network (rho=0.61) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change] [31 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +0.9 ft (1955–2023, no_trend)]
• KICKING BIRD CANAL: reach shifted from -9 cfs to -9 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.012, 10 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=0.44) -- part of it may be unaccounted water becoming accounted, not hydrologic change]
• HYDE DITCH: reach shifted from -180 cfs to -25 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.000, 17 yr) [sedimentary plains/foothills: moderate groundwater connectivity -- gain/loss shifts can be real aquifer response; corroborate with nearby well records] [36 alluvial wells within 2 mi of the gage; pooled water table +47319.1 ft (1956–2018, decreasing)]

Groundwater now has its own tab: 2601 monitored well(s), water-table trends, stream corridors, and the advisory depletion screen.

Reservoirs now has its own tab: 22 reservoir(s), end-of-year storage back to 1949, click-to-chart histories.

Cross-gage pattern fingerprint

Over the 76-year window with full coverage (1951–2026), the dominant shared pattern across 3 gage(s) explains 83% 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 2026-07-06)

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.

• NORTH GATEWAY PARK POND NO 2 (diversion): -15.7 cfs (50% of that reach's correction)
• LAMAR FEEDER NO 2 (diversion): -15.7 cfs (50% of that reach's correction)
• PERDUE PIPELINE (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• WAGNER & GILBERT P/L (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• NEENOSHE RESERVOIR (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• RAY GILBERT SEEP DITCH (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• HYDE DITCH (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• W N HUTCHISON DITCH (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• LAMAR CANAL (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)
• BUTTE RESERVOIR (diversion): +1.7 cfs (5% of that reach's correction)

22 reservoir(s) with 5,916 storage measurement(s), 1949–2026. Basin storage as of 2025-10-31 (the record's own end — reservoir records publish ~annually): 1,464 AF across 5 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)
▸ NEENOSHE RESERVOIR (6703883) ☆	26,000	2007-10-23	—	—	dossier →
▸ JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR (6703512) ☆	16,152	2012-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ GP RANCHES WEST FARM GRAVEL PIT (6706650) ☆	1,413	2025-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ WM D PURSE RES NO 1 (6703596) ☆	200	2010-02-23	—	—	dossier →
▸ MUDDY CREEK RESERVOIR (6703597) ☆	149	1963-07-01	—	—	dossier →
▸ DINGWALL REGULATING RESERVOIR (6703536) ☆	116	2010-10-26	—	—	dossier →
▸ L G KINNEY RESERVOIR (6703540) ☆	40	2025-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ R R RUTHERFORD RESERVOIR (6703600) ☆	25	2010-02-23	—	—	dossier →

Right now

This is the 36th-driest week 27 in 111 years of record at ARKANSAS RIVER AT LAMAR, CO. (as of 2026-06-29; this week’s flow sits at the 32nd percentile for the date). On this week’s US Drought Monitor, Bent County is 7% in D3 extreme drought (2026-09-01). 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 1913, week by week

Each thin row is a year at ARKANSAS RIVER AT LAMAR, 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.

The Drought Monitor’s view since 2000

Mean share of area in each class across Bent, Prowers 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 (790 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	Recovery
the 2012-13 drought	2012-12-31 → 2013-09-23	38	16th (2013-04-22)	46 weeks
the 2002 drought	2002-12-16 → 2003-09-29	41	14th (2003-04-07)	90 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1978-12-04 → 1979-09-10	40	7th (1979-04-02)	3 weeks
the 1977 drought	1977-10-24 → 1978-09-04	45	5th (1978-03-13)	56 weeks
the 1977 drought	1977-01-17 → 1977-07-04	24	23rd (1977-02-21)	117 weeks
the 1977 drought	1976-01-26 → 1976-07-19	25	24th (1976-03-29)	167 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1974-10-07 → 1975-10-06	52	12th (1975-01-06)	208 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1969-02-03 → 1969-06-23	20	23rd (1969-02-17)	2 weeks
the 1963-64 drought	1963-09-16 → 1965-08-16	100	7th (1964-03-30)	0 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1960-11-07 → 1961-06-05	30	16th (1961-02-06)	27 weeks
the 1950s drought	1954-11-22 → 1955-09-26	44	8th (1955-03-14)	0 weeks
the 1950s drought	1954-01-18 → 1954-09-20	35	20th (1954-03-01)	51 weeks
the 1930s Dust Bowl drought	1939-08-21 → 1941-07-21	100	9th (1940-02-19)	4 weeks
the 1930s Dust Bowl drought	1937-08-02 → 1938-10-24	64	13th (1938-04-25)	147 weeks

Detected mechanically: the 26-week smoothed percentile below the 30th for at least 20 weeks; recovered on regaining the 50th. 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 $95,357,259 in drought-caused claims across Bent, Prowers counties — 23.2% of all insured crop losses there. The worst year was 2013 ($14,701,933).

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 (1,942 rights across 111 years of shared record), colored by that year’s wetness from the barcode above. Here the correlation is -0.21 — this basin tended to claim water in dry times, under scarcity pressure. 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.

Decreed rights on this network run from 1871-03-13 to 2018-10-30. 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. 7 abandonment screens and 23 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: 2337 across 2116 structure(s); 204 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 call, calls set, seniority 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.

• AMITY CANAL (MAY VALLEY) (6700520) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-10-01 (30+ days) — call at MARTIN DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• AMITY CANAL (MAY VALLEY) (6700520) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-09-08 (8+ days) — call at CHILILI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• AMITY CANAL (6700607) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-09-08 (15+ days) — call at CHILILI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• FLOYD VERHOEFF NO 2 (6700567) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-08-10 (26+ days) — call at HARDSCRABBLE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• AMITY CANAL (6700607) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-08-07 (21+ days) — call at HARDSCRABBLE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• AMITY CANAL (MAY VALLEY) (6700520) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-07-26 (7+ days) — call at TITSWORTH DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• WRIGHT BARKER IRRIGATION SYS NO 1 (6700512) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-07-19 (83+ days) — call at MODEL DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• IDEAL DITCH (6700555) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-07-12 (29+ days) — call at LEWELLING-MCCORMICK curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• SAYLER & NOWELLS DITCH (6700519) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-05-25 (14+ days) — call at HOEHNE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BUFFALO CANAL (BUFFALO) (6700557) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-03-16 (8+ days) — call at CHILILI DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• SAYLER & NOWELLS DITCH (6700519) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-02-26 (74+ days) — call at MODEL DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• DINGWALL DITCH (PROWERS) (6700543) DWR↗☆ stopped 2025-02-18 (5+ days) — call at MODEL 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
AMITY CANAL (6700607) DWR↗☆	1887-02-21	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
AMITY CANAL (GOULDS DR) (6700533) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
AMITY CANAL (BIG BEND) (6700575) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
AMITY CANAL (BIG SANDY) (6700672) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
AMITY CANAL (MAY VALLEY) (6700520) DWR↗☆	1908-05-26	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
LAMAR CANAL (6700614) DWR↗☆	1875-11-30	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
FORT BENT CANAL (6700610) DWR↗☆	1886-04-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BUFFALO CANAL (DEADMAN) (6700565) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BUFFALO CANAL (BUFFALO) (6700557) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BUFFALO CANAL (PUNTNEY) (6700505) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BUFFALO CANAL (HOUSE DR) (6700548) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BUFFALO CANAL (SIMPSON) (6700514) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%

Abandonment radar (7 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 ~2017 — idleness that begins before then may be unreported use, not nonuse (flagged † below).

• GRAHAM DITCH (6700572) DWR↗☆ (1891-08-24, 61.0 cfs decreed): last active 1963 — 46 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• CLINGINGSMITH OUTLET DITCH (6700513) DWR↗☆ (1954-07-31, 3.0 cfs decreed): last active 1970 — 39 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• AMITY CANAL (BIG SANDY) (6700672) DWR↗☆ (1893-04-01, 510.0 cfs decreed): last active 1971 — 38 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• R M RAY SEEP DITCH NO 1 (6700506) DWR↗☆ (1920-09-26, 2.8 cfs decreed): last active 1972 — 37 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• NOWELS PIPELINE (6700594) DWR↗☆ (1920-08-10, 4.0 cfs decreed): last active 1972 — 37 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• E R JONES SEEPAGE DITCH (6700644) DWR↗☆ (1920-09-26, 2.2 cfs decreed): last active 1972 — 37 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse
• REYHER WELL NO 8 (6705011) DWR↗☆ (1965-03-15, 1.5 cfs decreed): last active 1973 — 36 years idle † predates modern reporting era — last recorded activity predates this basin's modern reporting era (~2017) -- early absence of record is weak evidence of nonuse

Compliance screens (23 advisory flags)

Screened 74 of 2116 structures with rights (85 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.

• JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR (6703512) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 1062.8 cfs (max 6030.2) exceeds total decreed absolute 63.0 cfs across 33628 recorded day(s).
• BUFFALO CANAL (ARKANSAS) (6700608) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 90.0 cfs (max 171.8) exceeds total decreed absolute 67.5 cfs across 55364 recorded day(s).
• THURSTON PIPELINE (6702500) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 55.4 cfs (max 68.4) exceeds total decreed absolute 25.0 cfs across 180 recorded day(s).
• IDEAL DITCH (6700555) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 16.1 cfs (max 32.8) exceeds total decreed absolute 10.0 cfs across 4082 recorded day(s).
• SISSON & STUBBS DITCH 1 (6700616) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 15.0 cfs (max 25.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 7.0 cfs across 6571 recorded day(s).
• GERALD VERHOEFF DITCH (6700544) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 11.4 cfs (max 564.3) exceeds total decreed absolute 10.0 cfs across 9149 recorded day(s).
• CALVIN FLINT DITCH NO 2 (6700559) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 11.1 cfs (max 20.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 10.0 cfs across 4454 recorded day(s).
• L G KINNEY DITCH (6700660) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 11.1 cfs (max 11.1) exceeds total decreed absolute 3.0 cfs across 52 recorded day(s).
• JAMES CUSHNY DITCH (6700579) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 5.5 cfs (max 16.4) exceeds total decreed absolute 5.3 cfs across 2454 recorded day(s).
• WAGNER & GILBERT P/L (6700593) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 5.3 cfs (max 6.5) exceeds total decreed absolute 5.0 cfs across 282 recorded day(s).

Seniority (top structures by decreed rate)

Structure	Senior priority date	Rights	Decreed abs (cfs)	Decreed abs (AF)	Conditional?
AMITY CANAL (6700607) DWR↗☆	1887-02-21	3	783.5	0	yes
AMITY CANAL (GOULDS DR) (6700533) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	2	700.0	0	yes
AMITY CANAL (BIG BEND) (6700575) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	2	700.0	0	yes
AMITY CANAL (BIG SANDY) (6700672) DWR↗☆	1893-04-01	2	510.0	0	yes
AMITY CANAL (MAY VALLEY) (6700520) DWR↗☆	1908-05-26	3	503.6	0	yes
LAMAR CANAL (6700614) DWR↗☆	1875-11-30	4	285.8	0	—
FORT BENT CANAL (6700610) DWR↗☆	1886-04-01	6	228.5	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (PUNTNEY) (6700505) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	1	135.0	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (BUFFALO) (6700557) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	1	135.0	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (DEADMAN) (6700565) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	1	135.0	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (HOUSE DR) (6700548) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	1	107.0	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (SIMPSON) (6700514) DWR↗☆	1895-10-01	1	105.0	0	—
X-Y IRRIGATING DITCH (6700617) DWR↗☆	1889-07-22	1	69.0	0	—
BUFFALO CANAL (ARKANSAS) (6700608) DWR↗☆	1885-01-29	1	67.5	0	—
JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR (6703512) DWR↗☆	1871-03-13	13	63.0	357385	—

No inventory or legal-document changes detected since the daily watch began.

Water-court filings this month (division-wide)

6 applications in the 2026-07 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 2026-09-30 (25 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
2026CW3032	—	—	CASE NO. 2026CW3032; Previous Case Nos. 20CW3003, 13CW3008, 97CW83 – EMPIRE LODGE HOMEOWNER’S ASSOCIATION, INC. c/o Tim Ratterman, President, 585 Empire Valley Drive, Leadville, CO 80461 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Appl…
2026CW3033 1205090 1205091	reasonable diligence	—	CASE NO. 2026CW3033; Previous Case No. 2019CW3032 – SANGRE DE CRISTO RANCH, LLC c/o Stephanie Stolba, 44301 E Iliff Trail, Bennett, CO 80102 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney: Jennifer M. DiLalla, #40319,…
2026CW3034	—	HUERFANO	CASE NO. 2026CW 3034; (2017CW3075); CUCHARAS SANITATION & WATER DISTRICT, 16925 Highway 12, Cucharas, Colorado 81055 (“CSWD”); Huerfano County Water Conservancy District, c/o/ Administrator, P.O. Pox 442, La Veta, Colorado 81055 (“Huerfano”); Town of La Veta, …
2026CW3035	plan for augmentation	—	CASE NO. 2026CW3035; GUM FAMILY TRUST AND JACOB GUM, TRUSTEE AND INDIVIDUALLY, 8580 Forest Line Point, Colorado Springs, CO, 80908 (Please address all pleadings a nd inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney s: Philip E. Lopez, Eric K. Trout, Fai…
2026CW3036 1406622 1406637 1406670	plan for augmentation	—	CASE NO. 2026CW3036; Previous Case No. 2017CW3009 – SILOAM WELL ASSOCIATION, 46 Glenroyal Dr., Pueblo, CO 81005 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s attorney: Steven L. Jasnssen, Esq., 1937 Juniper St., Longmont, CO …
2026CW7	—	—	CASE NO. 2026CW7; COLORADO DIVISION OF PARKS AND WILDLIFE AND THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION (“CPW”), Attn: Pete Conovitz, Water Rights Program Administrator, 6060 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80216 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this m…

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
LAWMA - COLORADO BEEF WELLS	37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION	Approved	2027-03-31	6707838	plan file
LAWMA - REYHER WELLS	37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION	Approved	2027-03-31	6707874	plan file
LAWMA NOVA SOMINA	37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS	Approved	2027-03-31	6707846	plan file
GP AGGREGATES WEST FARM PIT	37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN	Approved	—	6707828	plan file
LANCE VERHOEFF POND	37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS	Approved	—	6707844	plan file
LAMAR, CITY OF WILLOW CREEK POND	37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION	Decreed	—	6707857	plan file
WERTZ BRENT AND LAWMA	37-92-308(4) PLAN PENDING COURT APPLICATION	Additional Info Needed	—	6707840	plan file
KICT, LLC	37-90-137(11) GRAVEL PIT PLAN	Withdrawn	—	6707877	plan file

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.

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

Administration number
Simulate

DWR administration numbers encode appropriation and adjudication dates; lower is more senior.