Lower Gunnison River

Division 4 · Water District 42

Auto-mapped

Lower Gunnison River on the ground — the ditches, wells, reservoirs and gages of Water District 42 · clicktap anything for its record

Browse this district’s ditches, gages, reservoirs, wells and springs as a list.

10% of normal flow, week of 2026-06-29

26 calls active on it right now

The Gunnison River is critically low for late June -- 10% of normal flow. 26 calls stand against it right now; the most senior right calling dates to 1878.

Full diagnostic snapshot pending — this district's weekly-style report (system status, active calls, hydrographs, anomaly flags) is produced by the nightly rotation and appears here after its first run. The tabs above are live now.

Reconstruct conditions as of

Evolution of the network

This year, in context

In the weeks around 2026-07-06 (the newest reading on file), flows at the 5 ranked gages are running at a median 36% of their own long-term norm for this window — 3 below a typical year, 2 at or above. Driest relative to its record: GUNNISON RIVER BELOW REDLANDS DIVERSION DAM, ranking 1st lowest of 32 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 20:01 from 10 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 10 gages with enough record, 4 are trending down and 2 up, and 3 carry a detected shift. The clearest is Redlands Canal near Grand Junction, its annual mean flow changing +24.91 cfs per decade (+3.5% of its median annual flow) over 61 years (p<0.0001). The other 4 show no clear signal either way.

Gage	Trend	Change / decade cfs · % of median annual flow	Significance	Years	Changepoint
▸ Redlands Canal near Grand Junction RLCGRJCO	↑ increasing	+24.91 cfs +3.5%	p<0.001	61	~1957
▸ Kannah Creek near Whitewater KANWHICO	↓ decreasing	-3.59 cfs -12.2%	p<0.001	62	~1945
▸ Gunnison River near Grand Junction GUNGRJCO	↓ decreasing	-71.25 cfs -3.0%	p=0.008	115	—
▸ Kannah Creek below Juniata Enlarged Diversion KANJUNCO	↓ decreasing	-3.58 cfs -31.3%	p=0.015	20	—
▸ Grand Junction Waterworks Intake near GRJWATCO	↑ increasing	+0.66 cfs +9.0%	p=0.021	14	~1943
▸ Juniata Enlargment Diversion JUNLRGCO	↓ decreasing	-3.89 cfs -49.9%	p=0.030	20	—

4 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. 5 gage(s) and 43 structure(s) report in 2026, but structure reporting only reached half its modern level around ~1978. 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	0
1920s	2	0
1930s	4	0
1940s	4	0
1950s	4	0
1960s	2	0
1970s	3	10
1980s	2	33
1990s	4	44
2000s	5	47
2010s	5	51
2020s	5	45

Mass-balance (network closure) trend

Structure divrec-history backfill coverage as of the last check: 10% of 412 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 (1950–2025)

Mass-balance kinks computed for every summer month back to 1950 (85 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.

No reach shows a statistically significant long-term gain/loss shift.

Groundwater now has its own tab: 9 monitored well(s), water-table trends, stream corridors, and the advisory depletion screen.

Reservoirs now has its own tab: 32 reservoir(s), end-of-year storage back to 1976, click-to-chart histories.

Cross-gage pattern fingerprint

Over the 29-year window with full coverage (1998–2026), the dominant shared pattern across 3 gage(s) explains 74% 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.

Data provenance & quality

Where these numbers come from and how far they can be trusted. Grade D (2/6 points) — the components below are the finding; the letter alone is not. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (imported 2026-08-19) for history, plus the CDSS REST API for current conditions.

Check	State	What was measured
gage freshness	stale	newest gage reading is 55 day(s) old (target 7)
diversion record	stale	newest diversion record is 669 day(s) old (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears)
structure coverage	sparse	10% of schematic structures have data

Independent check: PASS — 100.0000% agreement across 223,352 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 — 99.96% day-level agreement with USGS's own published records for the same gages, across 4 co-listed station(s) and 70,311 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.

10 gage(s) / 132,624 daily values (1896-10-01–2026-07-06); 94 structure(s) with diversion records; 726 with decreed rights. Methodology has not yet had independent expert review — treat every figure as an advisory screen, not an administrative or legal conclusion.

31 water-level measurements across 9 monitored well(s) — 3 alluvial, 1 bedrock — plus 0 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 0 well(s) with enough record for a trend test: 0 declining, 0 rising.

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.

32 reservoir(s) with 8,467 storage measurement(s), 1976–2025. Basin storage as of 2024-10-25 (the record's own end — reservoir records publish ~annually): 3,988 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)
▸ JUNIATA RESERVOIR (4203620)	6,204	2015-10-30	—	—	dossier →
▸ CITY OF GRAND JCT POOL (4203627)	837	1980-06-30	—	—	dossier →
▸ FLOWING PARK RES (4203608)	726	2024-10-03	—	—	dossier →
▸ ANDERSON RES NO 2 (4203601)	538	2024-10-03	—	—	dossier →
▸ CARSON LAKE (4203604)	528	2024-10-03	—	—	dossier →
▸ CHENEY RESERVOIR (4203626)	491	2023-07-05	—	—	dossier →
▸ ANDERSON RES NO 1 (4203600)	456	2024-10-03	—	—	dossier →
▸ GRAND MESA RES NO 1 (4203614)	330	2024-10-03	—	—	dossier →

Snow-water equivalent, WY2026

SNOTEL site	Elev (ft)	SWE (in)	Median (in)	% of median	Typical peak

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.

Runoff outlook — Gunnison R nr Grand Junction

NRCS's final issue (2026-06-01) calls it even odds that at least 95 kAF arrives over 06-01 to 07-31 — 17% of a normal season; almost certainly at least 55, probably not more than 240. Our own record at this gage shows 58 kAF actually delivered (partial record: 36 of 61 days). New forecasts begin in January. How to read these numbers →

90% chance of at least	70% chance of at least	50% chance of at least	30% chance of at least	10% chance of at least	Normal	Observed
55	75	95	150	240	575	58

How good are these forecasts here? (1950–2025)

Grading every April issue against what the river then delivered, measured at this gage’s own record — 75 seasons: the median miss of the 50% forecast is 46%, with a high bias of 44%, and the observed volume landed inside the stated 10–90% band 31% of the time (a calibrated forecast would say 80%).

Computed by this site: NRCS's archived April issues (their period as issued each year) against the observed volume in DWR’s published record; years with under 90% daily coverage are dropped, not summed. A grade of the forecast, never of the forecasters — these are hard rivers. How this point ranks among every graded Colorado forecast point →

Right now

This is the 12th-driest week 27 in 118 years of record at GUNNISON RIVER NEAR GRAND JUNCTION, CO. (as of 2026-06-29; this week’s flow sits at the 10th percentile for the date). On this week’s US Drought Monitor, Mesa County is 83% in D3 extreme drought (2026-09-01). The law agrees: the most senior active call leaves 99% of this district’s decreed flow rights junior to the calling right this week.

Every year since 1896, week by week

Each thin row is a year at GUNNISON RIVER NEAR GRAND JUNCTION, 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 Mesa 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 (168 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 2020-22 drought	2022-02-14 → 2022-10-24	36	19th (2022-05-02)	37 weeks
the 2020-22 drought	2021-02-15 → 2021-11-29	41	13th (2021-06-28)	84 weeks
the 2020-22 drought	2020-08-03 → 2020-12-21	20	26th (2020-08-24)	133 weeks
the 2018 drought	2019-01-21 → 2019-07-01	23	26th (2019-04-08)	1 week
the 2018 drought	2018-07-16 → 2018-12-31	24	22nd (2018-09-24)	27 weeks
the 2012-13 drought	2012-08-06 → 2013-11-18	67	8th (2013-04-22)	39 weeks
the 2002 drought	2002-06-24 → 2004-11-01	123	6th (2003-05-05)	11 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1990-03-05 → 1991-01-14	45	10th (1990-07-16)	34 weeks
the 1981 drought	1981-07-27 → 1981-12-21	21	20th (1981-09-07)	3 weeks
the 1977 drought	1977-06-20 → 1978-07-31	58	5th (1977-09-05)	17 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1966-07-18 → 1968-01-01	76	19th (1966-11-28)	0 weeks
the 1963-64 drought	1963-07-29 → 1964-09-14	59	15th (1964-05-04)	39 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1960-10-10 → 1961-11-20	58	13th (1961-03-06)	12 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1959-05-25 → 1960-05-02	49	20th (1959-09-14)	93 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.

When this basin claimed its water

Every bar is a year’s new appropriations (728 rights across 121 years of shared record), colored by that year’s wetness from the barcode above. Here the correlation is +0.02 — 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.

Decreed rights on this network run from 1881-12-30 to 2024-11-08. Of the 20 structures with a yield estimate, the median one’s senior right was in priority 18% of a median irrigation season and 0% in a dry one. 25 abandonment screens and 30 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: 879 across 726 structure(s); 26 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: 1 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	0	0	—
2015	277	127	1885-08-11
2016	366	108	1890-11-17
2017	319	94	1888-01-23
2018	291	160	1882-06-01
2019	319	93	1888-01-25
2020	246	141	1881-12-17
2021	275	103	1883-05-05
2022	365	93	1884-11-01
2023	277	59	1898-10-15
2024	275	56	1883-06-01
2025	365	100	1884-11-01

Why diversions stopped — call-based explanations

Sustained diversion stops matched to senior administrative calls.

FLORENCE H BERRY DITCH (4200517) DWR↗ stopped 2024-09-22 (39+ days) — call at PAONIA DITCH curtailing 84% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
SMITH IRRIGATING DITCH (4200545) DWR↗ stopped 2024-09-18 (43+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
BOWEN PRIVATE DITCH (4200507) DWR↗ stopped 2024-09-11 (14+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
KANNAH CREEK HIGHLINE D (4200529) DWR↗ stopped 2024-08-29 (63+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 76% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
JUNIATA DITCH 1ST ENL (4200528) DWR↗ stopped 2024-08-23 (19+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 99% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
BALES WILLIAMS MORRISON (4200503) DWR↗ stopped 2024-07-25 (6+ days) — call at PRESTON DITCH curtailing 92% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
FLORENCE H BERRY DITCH (4200517) DWR↗ stopped 2024-07-24 (7+ days) — call at PRESTON DITCH curtailing 84% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS DITCH (4200552) DWR↗ stopped 2024-07-16 (107+ days) — call at NORTH FORK ORCHARD COMPANY DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
JUNIATA DITCH 1ST ENL (4200528) DWR↗ stopped 2024-07-04 (13+ days) — call at MIDKIFF & ARNOLD D curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
WASHBURN & DOWNING DITCH (4200549) DWR↗ stopped 2024-06-27 (13+ days) — call at MIDKIFF & ARNOLD D curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
BLACK DITCH (4200505) DWR↗ stopped 2024-06-25 (128+ days) — call at SANDSTONE BLUFF DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-partial]
WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS DITCH (4200552) DWR↗ stopped 2024-06-17 (8+ days) — call at GROVE 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
REDLANDS POWER CANAL (4200541) DWR↗	1905-07-31	6.3% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
JUNIATA DITCH 1ST ENL (4200528) DWR↗	1884-11-01	24.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
KANNAH CREEK HIGHLINE D (4200529) DWR↗	1884-11-01	24.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BRANDON DITCH (4200509) DWR↗	1883-06-30	10.7% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BROWN & CAMPION D (4200510) DWR↗	1884-11-01	24.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
LAURENT DITCH (4200554) DWR↗	1882-03-06	53.8% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
CITY DITCH (4200512) DWR↗	1882-03-06	53.8% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
BOLEN A & J DITCH (4200506) DWR↗	1901-07-25	6.3% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
SMITH IRRIGATING DITCH (4200545) DWR↗	1884-11-01	24.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
DEEP CR RES #2 SUP D (4200573) DWR↗	1931-07-15	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
GRAND JUNCTION-GUNNISON RIVER PIPELINE (4200520) DWR↗	1957-01-22	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
MCDONALD DITCH (4200613) DWR↗	1910-11-26	6.3% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%

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 ~1978 — idleness that begins before then may be unreported use, not nonuse (flagged † below).

GAMMAGE HIGHLINE DITCH (4200519) DWR↗ (1892-11-01, 0.2 cfs decreed): last active 1986 — 38 years idle
BROKEN SPOKE RANCH COLLECTION DITCH (4200661) DWR↗ (1900-06-01, 2.0 cfs decreed): last active 1987 — 37 years idle
CHARLES DITCH (4200511) DWR↗ (1914-03-25, 0.1 cfs decreed): last active 1988 — 36 years idle
GRAND JUNCTION-GUNNISON RIVER PIPELINE (4200520) DWR↗ (1957-01-22, 18.6 cfs decreed): last active 1994 — 30 years idle
RABER DAVIS DITCH (4200539) DWR↗ (1915-09-18, 1.2 cfs decreed): last active 1995 — 29 years idle
WATSON PUMPING PLANT (4200550) DWR↗ (1916-02-02, 1.1 cfs decreed): last active 1996 — 28 years idle
ANDERSON RES NO 6 (4203630) DWR↗ (1928-10-05, 0.0 cfs decreed): last active 1996 — 28 years idle
INGRAM DITCH (4200608) DWR↗ (1892-06-10, 0.3 cfs decreed): last active 1998 — 26 years idle
COFFMAN & WW MUTUAL D PL (4200635) DWR↗ (1972-10-10, 9.5 cfs decreed): last active 2000 — 24 years idle
HELMKE DITCH (4200522) DWR↗ (1929-04-01, 0.7 cfs decreed): last active 2001 — 23 years idle

Compliance screens (30 advisory flags)

Screened 57 of 726 structures with rights (83 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.

REDLANDS POWER CANAL (4200541) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 933.0 cfs (max 1310.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 850.0 cfs across 36964 recorded day(s).
ROGERS DITCH ENL (4200750) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 30.0 cfs (max 30.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 12.0 cfs across 186 recorded day(s).
GRAND JCT F L & W W (4200513) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 12.0 cfs (max 38.8) exceeds total decreed absolute 11.7 cfs across 53746 recorded day(s).
EAST CREEK DITCH (4200515) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 6.7 cfs (max 9.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.6 cfs across 9038 recorded day(s).
SNYDER CREEK SUPPLY DITCH (4200546) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 6.2 cfs (max 10.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 0.8 cfs across 3944 recorded day(s).
WASHBURN & DOWNING DITCH (4200549) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 6.2 cfs (max 10.6) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.8 cfs across 11390 recorded day(s).
BRADBURY DITCH (4200508) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 5.0 cfs (max 5.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 0.9 cfs across 3394 recorded day(s).
SHROPSHIRE DITCH (4200544) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 5.0 cfs (max 13.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 3.0 cfs across 7750 recorded day(s).
BROKEN SPOKE RANCH COLLECTION DITCH (4200661) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 5.0 cfs (max 5.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.0 cfs across 1816 recorded day(s).
RABER COAL CREEK SUPPLY DITCH (4200538) DWR↗: Observed p99 daily rate 5.0 cfs (max 6.1) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.2 cfs across 4716 recorded day(s).

Seniority (top structures by decreed rate)

Structure	Senior priority date	Rights	Decreed abs (cfs)	Conditional?
REDLANDS POWER CANAL (4200541) DWR↗	1905-07-31	3	850.0	—
JUNIATA DITCH 1ST ENL (4200528) DWR↗	1884-11-01	6	259.4	—
KANNAH CREEK HIGHLINE D (4200529) DWR↗	1884-11-01	5	89.2	yes
BRANDON DITCH (4200509) DWR↗	1883-06-30	16	55.2	yes
BROWN & CAMPION D (4200510) DWR↗	1884-11-01	4	35.5	—
LAURENT DITCH (4200554) DWR↗	1882-03-06	8	34.7	—
CITY DITCH (4200512) DWR↗	1882-03-06	6	33.8	—
BOLEN A & J DITCH (4200506) DWR↗	1901-07-25	2	29.4	—
SMITH IRRIGATING DITCH (4200545) DWR↗	1884-11-01	4	22.6	—
DEEP CR RES #2 SUP D (4200573) DWR↗	1931-07-15	1	20.0	—
GRAND JUNCTION-GUNNISON RIVER PIPELINE (4200520) DWR↗	1957-01-22	1	18.6	yes
MCDONALD DITCH (4200613) DWR↗	1910-11-26	2	15.9	—
BAUER DITCH (4200504) DWR↗	1882-03-06	7	14.2	—
KANNAH CREEK EXTENSION DITCH (4200530) DWR↗	1884-11-01	3	13.0	—
ROGERS DITCH ENL (4200750) DWR↗	1981-06-01	1	12.0	—

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

Water-court filings this month (division-wide)

15 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 (56 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 15 filings, with excerpts

Case	What it asks	County	Excerpt
`09CW89`	reasonable diligence, make absolute	SAN MIGUEL	09CW89, 96CW313, 08CW186) - SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, SAN MIGUEL RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES - APPLICATION FOR FINDINGS OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE AND TO MAKE ABSOLUTE IN PART Town of Telluride, c/o Jennifer M. DiLalla, Molly K. Haug-Rengers, Moses, Wittemyer, Harrison an…
`26CW19`	reasonable diligence	—	Case No. 26CW19 (Ref No. 06CW107, 13CW093, 20CW017) Applicant Ed and Ruth Kneese 13890 Marine Road Montrose, CO 81403. Application and Amended Application for Finding of Reasonable Diligence. Kneese Wastewater Ditch SE1/4 SE1/4 Section 20 T49N R9W NMPM. Eastin…
`26CW20`	make absolute	—	Case No. 26CW20 (Ref No. 99CW199, 06CW10, 13CW90, 20CW26) Applicant David and Elizabeth Koos 15464 2525 Road Cedaredge CO 81413. Application to Make Absolute. Koos Well - NE1/4NW1/4SW1/4 Section 34 T13S R94W 6th. Easting 0248977 Northing 4307260. Source: Groun…
`26CW21` 4301123	new surface right	—	Case No. 26CW21 Applicant Daniel Lee Bolton 34879 Powell Mesa Road Hotchkiss CO 81419. Application for Absolute Surface Water Rights. Papa’s Spring – NW1/4 NW1/4 Section 20 T14S R92W 6th. Easting 265356 Northing 4301123. Source: Spring Tributary of the North F…
`26CW22`	reasonable diligence	—	Case No. 26CW22 (Ref No. 14CW3000, 20CW0024) Applicant Daniel Lee Bolton 34879 Powell Mesa Road Hotchkiss CO 81419. Application for Finding of Reasonable Diligence. Well Permit #228338A – NW1/4 NW1/4 Section 20 T14S R92W 6th. Source: Ground Water Tributary of …
`26CW3038` 4315025	reasonable diligence	GUNNISON	Case No. 26CW3038 (Ref No. 13CW62, 20CW3012) Gunnison County – North Fork Gunnison River. Applicant: Thomas M. Abbott and Abbott Ranches, LLC, c/o Bradley N. Switzer, P.O. Box 816, Montrose, CO 81402, (970) 249-8749; APPLICATION FOR FINDING OF REASONABLE DILIG…
`26CW3039`	reasonable diligence, make absolute	SAN MIGUEL	Case No. 26CW3039 (Ref No. 19CW3082) San Miguel County – San Miguel River; San Juan Vista Landowners Association; c/o William T. Raley and John R. Pierce, DUFFORD WALDECK, 744 Horizon Court, Suite 300, Grand Junction, CO 81506, (970) 248-5865; APPLICATION TO M…
`26CW3040` 5905273	reasonable diligence, make absolute	—	Case No. 26CW3040 (Ref No. 94CW60, 13CW3057, 20CW3014) APPLICATION TO MAKE CONDITIONAL RIGHTS ABSOLUTE IN PART AND FOR FINDING OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE. Applicant: Silver Sage Property Owners’ Association, Inc., c/o H&H CPA's & Advisors, P.O. Box 1218, Crested …
`26CW3041` 5903781	reasonable diligence	IN GUNNISON	Case No. 26CW3041 (Ref No. 81CW306, 20CW3029) IN GUNNISON COUNTY - APPLICATION FOR FINDING OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE City of Gunnison, a Colorado Municipal Corporation c/o Jennifer M. DiLalla, Cameron J. Abatti, Moses, Wittemyer, Harrison and Woodruff, P.C., 259…
`26CW3042`	make absolute	—	Case No. 26CW3042 (Ref No. 20CW3) 1. Applicant: MambaOn3 Real Estate LLC (“Applicant”), 9249 South Broadway, Ste. 200-824, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129, nerissa@mambaon3.com, (424) 303-3880. Direct all pleadings and correspondence to Applicant’s attorneys: Ramsey…
`26CW3043`	reasonable diligence	SAN MIGUEL	Case No. 26CW3043 (Ref No. 13CW79, 20CW3025) SAN MIGUEL COUNTY. Application for Finding of Reasonable Diligence. Telluride Pines Homeowners Association, P.O. Box 1071, Telluride, CO 81430 (970) 394-4480; c/o Peter D. Jaacks and April D. Hendricks, Jewell Jimme…
`26CW3044`	reasonable diligence, make absolute	DELTA	Case No. 26CW3044 (Ref No. 13CW3021, 20CW3009) DELTA COUNTY. Applicant: Harris and Sons Stirrup Bar Ranch, LLC, c/o Doug Harris, Manager, P.O. Box 940, Paonia, CO 81428 (David J. Skarka, Camp & Skarka, LLC, 415 Palmer St., Delta, CO 81416; 970-874-9777). APPLI…
`26CW3045`	—	—	Case No. 26CW3045 (Ref No. 19CW3003, W-3280, 96CW132, 09CW142, 92CW176,…
`26CW3046`	reasonable diligence	GUNNISON	Case No. 26CW3046 (Ref No. 89CW219, 97CW133, 04CW050, 11CW78,18CW3013). GUNNISON COUNTY Application for Findings of Reasonable Diligence and to Make Certain Conditional Water Rights Partially Absolute. Applicant: Trappers Crossing at Crested Butte Association,…
`96CW177`	—	—	Case No. 96CW177; Depth: Original decree is for 82 separate wells of unspecified depth; Outline of what has been done toward completion of the appropriation and application of water to a beneficial use: Applicant was granted, by Decree in Case No. W-2264 (ref …

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

Administration number

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

Runoff outlook — Gunnison R nr Grand Junction : even odds of at least 95 kAF over 06-01 to 07-31 — 17% of a normal season, per NRCS, issued 2026-06-01 — the season’s final; new forecasts begin in January. Full snow & runoff picture — charts, forecast history and how the forecasts have verified →

Sites, exceedance bands and sources

Gunnison R nr Grand Junction — 06-01 to 07-31 volume, thousand acre-feet (chance the volume is AT LEAST this):

90%	70%	50%	30%	10%	Normal
55	75	95	150	240	575

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: 4 parent disagreements, 7 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 6 streams, 2 agree. Know this water? Tell us →

Stream	This site routes it to	DWR routes it to
North East Creek	the mainstem	East Creek
East Creek	the mainstem	Gunnison River
Whitewater Creek	the mainstem	Gunnison River
Deer Creek	the mainstem	Gunnison River

Sizable streams DWR maps here that this network does not carry:

Reservoir Creek (6 mi) · Coal Creek (5 mi) · Gill Creek (5 mi) · Deep Creek (4 mi) · Cottonwood Creek (4 mi) · Skunk Creek (3 mi) · Sheep Creek (3 mi)

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