San Miguel River Basin

Evolution of the network

This year, in context

In the weeks around 2026-07-06 (the newest reading on file), flows at the 6 ranked gages are running at a median 38% of their own long-term norm for this window — 6 below a typical year, 0 at or above. Driest relative to its record: SAN MIGUEL RIVER AT BROOKS BRIDGE NEAR NUCLA CO, 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 20:04 from 25 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 25 gages with enough record, 2 are trending down and 0 up, and 2 carry a detected shift. The clearest is San Miguel River at Naturita, its annual mean flow changing -23.68 cfs per decade (-7.5% of its median annual flow) over 51 years (p=0.0333). The other 22 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
▸ San Miguel River at Naturita☆ SMGNATCO	↓ decreasing	-23.68 cfs -7.5%	p=0.033	51	~1949
▸ West Naturita Creek near Norwood☆ WENATNCO	↓ decreasing	-3.72 cfs -59.4%	p=0.043	16	—
▸ San Miguel River at Uravan☆ SANURECO	no clear trend	-22.90 cfs -7.7%	p=0.139	56	~1999

22 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. 6 gage(s) and 169 structure(s) report in 2026, but structure reporting only reached half its modern level around ~1974. 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
1910s	1	0
1920s	1	0
1930s	1	0
1940s	7	0
1950s	7	0
1960s	4	0
1970s	7	166
1980s	2	210
1990s	2	226
2000s	4	112
2010s	7	148
2020s	6	159

Mass-balance (network closure) trend

Structure divrec-history backfill coverage as of the last check: 7% of 3095 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 (830 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.

• SAN MIGUEL RIVER AT BROOKS BRIDGE NEAR NUCLA CO: reach shifted from -38 cfs to +139 cfs summer mean (more gaining, p=0.036, 32 yr) [alluvial valley: real alluvial aquifer -- a decades-long shift toward losing is the classic signature of alluvial pumping and urbanization]

Groundwater now has its own tab: 53 monitored well(s), water-table trends, stream corridors, and the advisory depletion screen.

Reservoirs now has its own tab: 12 reservoir(s), end-of-year storage back to 1991, click-to-chart histories.

Cross-gage pattern fingerprint

Over the 15-year window with full coverage (2012–2026), the dominant shared pattern across 3 gage(s) explains 92% 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.

• SAN MIGUEL (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• HUGHES RES (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• NEALE W 5 (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• BARLOW DITCH (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• SALTADO CREEK DITCH (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• POWERLINE R (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• MCKEEVER RES (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• STUFLER RES (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• ST JOE SPRING AND RES (diversion): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)
• ST JOE SPRING AND RES (return): -0.6 cfs (1% of that reach's correction)

12 reservoir(s) with 4,636 storage measurement(s), 1991–2024. Basin storage as of 2024-04-10 (the record's own end — reservoir records publish ~annually): 1,800 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)
▸ MIRAMONTE RESERVOIR (6003512) ☆	7,696	2022-04-25	—	—	dossier →
▸ BLUE LAKE RESERVOIR (6003505) ☆	4,435	2015-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ NATURITA CANAL (6000707) ☆	2,664	2005-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ TROUT LAKE RESERVOIR (6003527) ☆	2,013	2021-10-31	—	—	dossier →
▸ GURLEY RESERVOIR (6003507) ☆	1,800	2024-04-10	—	—	dossier →
▸ PAXTON RESERVOIR (6003519) ☆	575	2008-05-24	—	—	dossier →
▸ LAKE HOPE RESERVOIR (6003509) ☆	427	2002-09-05	—	—	dossier →
▸ LONE CONE RESERVOIR (6003511) ☆	316	2021-08-10	—	—	dossier →

Snow-water equivalent, WY2026

No snow on the ground — normal for the date; the snow year begins in October. The chart shows the full water year just ending.

SNOTEL site	Elev (ft)	SWE (in)	Median (in)	% of median	Typical peak
Alta Lakes	11290	0.0	—	—	—
Columbine Pass	9160	0.5	0.0	—	March 26 (18.0 in)
Lone Cone	9730	0.0	0.0	—	April 1 (15.2 in)

NRCS SNOTEL, daily. Sites are assigned to the district whose boundary contains them — the snow that feeds this district can also sit in a neighboring headwater district.

Two ways a snow year goes wrong (1981–2026)

A bad snow year here comes in two flavors (both called snow droughtA winter that shorts the snowpack. It happens two ways: a dry one, where the snow never comes, and a warm one, where near-normal snow falls but melts off weeks early -- and the river feels them differently.), and the river feels them differently. In 5 of the last 46 winters the snow never came — the pack peaked below 80% of its median. In 4 more, the snow came but left early — a near-normal peak melted out two weeks or more ahead of its usual date, sending the water down before the season needed it. This year was one of the dry ones: the pack peaked at 66% of median.

The snow never came: 1990, 2002, 2015, 2018, 2026. The snow left early: 1984, 2012, 2021, 2025.

Computed by this site from 3 SNOTEL sites’ full daily records (NRCS AWDB, back to 1981). Each year is measured against each site’s own multi-decade median — not the 1991–2020 normal the chart above uses — so the 1980s grade against a fair baseline. Peak and melt-out need 85% of the season’s days on the record; thin years are dropped, not guessed. Derived from snow measurements alone — it cannot tell dry-from-warm causes apart, only what the snowpack did.

Runoff outlook — San Miguel R nr Placerville

NRCS's final issue (2026-06-01) calls it even odds that at least 14 kAF arrives over 06-01 to 07-31 — 21% of a normal season; almost certainly at least 6, probably not more than 27. Our own record at this gage shows 14 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
6	10	14	20	27	65	14

How good are these forecasts here? (1974–2025)

Grading every April issue against what the river then delivered, measured at this gage’s own record — 51 seasons: the median miss of the 50% forecast is 15%, with a high bias of 7%, and the observed volume landed inside the stated 10–90% band 81% 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 →

What April snow has meant for this river (1981–2025)

Across 45 measured years, the season’s water has loosely followed the April snowpack: a year opening April with 80% of median snow has typically gone on to deliver about 76% of a normal season (a snow-to-runoff elasticityHow strongly one number moves with another. A snow-to-runoff elasticity of 1.5 means a 10% shortfall in April snowpack has typically become a 15% shortfall in the season's water. of 0.7). In warm, early-melt years the river delivered a median of 65% of a normal season, against 106% in typical years — the timing of the melt matters, not just its size.

Computed by this site: the district’s April 1 SWE (% of each SNOTEL site’s own-record median) against the observed April–July volume at this gage (% of its median season) — a fixed window every year, unlike the forecast grades above, which use each issue’s own period. The slope is fit so single wild years can’t steer it (Theil–Sen, log space); years missing 10% of their days are dropped.

Right now

This is the 5th-driest week 27 in 91 years of record at SAN MIGUEL RIVER NEAR PLACERVILLE, CO (as of 2026-06-29; this week’s flow sits at the 5th percentile for the date). On this week’s US Drought Monitor, Montrose County is 97% in D2 severe drought (2026-09-01). The law agrees: the most senior active call leaves 81% of this district’s decreed flow rights junior to the calling right this week.

Every year since 1910, week by week

Each thin row is a year at SAN MIGUEL RIVER NEAR PLACERVILLE, 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 Montrose, San Miguel 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 2003 — 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 (91 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	2020-02-17 → 2022-07-04	124	7th (2021-03-22)	51 weeks
the 2018 drought	2018-01-29 → 2019-07-08	75	3rd (2018-11-19)	0 weeks
the 2012-13 drought	2012-09-17 → 2013-11-11	60	12th (2013-03-25)	0 weeks
unnamed dry spell	2009-12-07 → 2010-04-26	20	25th (2010-01-11)	16 weeks
the 2002 drought	2002-02-04 → 2003-10-13	88	12th (2002-09-02)	39 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1992-02-03 → 1992-06-29	21	20th (1992-03-23)	6 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1989-10-02 → 1990-12-10	62	5th (1990-03-05)	11 weeks
the 1981 drought	1981-02-16 → 1981-11-09	38	15th (1981-06-29)	1 week
the 1977 drought	1976-08-30 → 1978-06-19	94	7th (1977-06-13)	4 weeks
the 1977 drought	1976-02-16 → 1976-08-23	27	23rd (1976-03-29)	99 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1974-09-23 → 1975-08-18	47	9th (1975-02-03)	0 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1966-10-24 → 1967-10-02	49	18th (1967-02-20)	50 weeks
unnamed dry spell	1959-08-03 → 1959-12-21	20	25th (1959-09-07)	25 weeks
the 1950s drought	1956-08-20 → 1957-07-29	49	10th (1956-12-17)	0 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 $268,565 in drought-caused claims across Montrose, San Miguel counties — 1.0% of all insured crop losses there. The worst year was 1996 ($68,918).

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 (2,023 rights across 93 years of shared record), colored by that year’s wetness from the barcode above. Here the correlation is +0.25 — this basin tended to claim water after wet years, when the supply had just shown itself. 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 1876-10-01 to 2025-05-30. 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. 25 abandonment screens and 151 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: 3347 across 2893 structure(s); 386 structure(s) carry 1 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.

• ALEXANDER DITCH (6000507) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-09-18 (43+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BURCH MORGAN DITCH (6000540) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-09-08 (53+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• AGRICULTURAL DITCH (6000505) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-09-04 (57+ days) — call at MIDKIFF & ARNOLD D curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• CARRIERE DITCH (6000550) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-09-02 (59+ days) — call at MINNESOTA CANAL curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BARRY NO1 DITCH (6000518) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-07-29 (43+ days) — call at PRESTON DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• SKYLINE RANCH S TURKEY CR DIVERSION (6000555) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-07-21 (8+ days) — call at PRESTON DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BEMENT DITCH (6000522) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-07-11 (112+ days) — call at NORTH FORK ORCHARD COMPANY DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• ABBOTT DITCH 1 (6000500) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-07-04 (119+ days) — call at MIDKIFF & ARNOLD D curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BUTTERMILK R DRAW W&S D (6000545) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-07-02 (121+ days) — call at MIDKIFF & ARNOLD D curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BENSON DITCH (6000524) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-06-23 (130+ days) — call at SANDSTONE BLUFF DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BURROW CREEK DITCH (6000541) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-06-20 (133+ days) — call at GROVE DITCH curtailing 100% of its decreed rate [heuristic-strong]
• BENNETT DITCH (6000523) DWR↗☆ stopped 2024-06-17 (136+ 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
NATURITA CANAL (6000707) DWR↗☆	1884-05-31	24.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
SAN MIGUEL RIVER (6002119) DWR↗☆	2011-01-25	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
SAN MIGUEL POWER CO CNL (6001100) DWR↗☆	1914-04-28	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
LONE CONE DITCH (6000672) DWR↗☆	1888-07-31	10.7% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
HIGHLINE CANAL (6000633) DWR↗☆	1885-10-01	12.6% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
LILYLANDS CANAL (6000670) DWR↗☆	1885-10-02	12.6% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
SAN MIGUEL RIVER (6001950) DWR↗☆	2002-01-23	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
AMES ILIUM HYDRO PROJ (6000511) DWR↗☆	1891-07-01	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
NUCLA POWER PLANT DITCH (6000723) DWR↗☆	1885-10-01	12.6% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
J & M HUGHES DITCH (6000650) DWR↗☆	1926-10-21	0.0% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
JOHNSON DITCH (6000827) DWR↗☆	1891-04-10	8.4% / 0.0%	0.0% / 0.0%
GURLEY DITCH (6001594) DWR↗☆	1884-05-31	0.0% / 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 ~1974 — idleness that begins before then may be unreported use, not nonuse (flagged † below).

• BUTCHER CREEK DITCH (6000542) DWR↗☆ (1904-05-01, 1.5 cfs decreed): last active 1974 — 50 years idle
• HALLEY DITCH (6000621) DWR↗☆ (1889-10-12, 0.8 cfs decreed): last active 1974 — 50 years idle
• MONTE FITCH DITCH (6000699) DWR↗☆ (1918-08-27, 1.5 cfs decreed): last active 1974 — 50 years idle
• SKEES DITCH (6000760) DWR↗☆ (1963-05-01, 0.3 cfs decreed): last active 1974 — 50 years idle
• GARDNER WELL NO 3 (6005001) DWR↗☆ (1946-06-15, 0.3 cfs decreed): last active 1974 — 50 years idle
• MILL DITCH AND FLUME (6000695) DWR↗☆ (1911-06-03, 20.0 cfs decreed): last active 1975 — 49 years idle
• O'NEIL DITCH (6000726) DWR↗☆ (1913-07-21, 1.2 cfs decreed): last active 1975 — 49 years idle
• ISAACS AND GRAY DITCH (6000649) DWR↗☆ (1913-07-21, 2.0 cfs decreed): last active 1976 — 48 years idle
• GARDNER WELL NO 1 (6005000) DWR↗☆ (1962-08-01, 0.3 cfs decreed): last active 1977 — 47 years idle
• BUSS DITCH (6000903) DWR↗☆ (1945-06-01, 0.5 cfs decreed): last active 1982 — 42 years idle

Compliance screens (151 advisory flags)

Screened 334 of 2893 structures with rights (347 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.

• ABBOTT DITCH 1 (6000500) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 102.0 cfs (max 202.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 2.0 cfs across 7066 recorded day(s).
• TROUT LAKE DOM WATER S L (6000781) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 37.8 cfs (max 39.1) exceeds total decreed absolute 0.2 cfs across 13742 recorded day(s).
• TROUT LAKE RESERVOIR (6003527) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 24.7 cfs (max 40.3) exceeds total decreed absolute 1.0 cfs across 820 recorded day(s).
• MILL DITCH AND FLUME (6000695) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 22.0 cfs (max 22.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 20.0 cfs across 316 recorded day(s).
• LOWER ELK CREEK DITCH (6000678) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 18.0 cfs (max 18.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 10.0 cfs across 9052 recorded day(s).
• LEOPARD CREEK DITCH (6000669) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 17.0 cfs (max 17.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 8.2 cfs across 13298 recorded day(s).
• THEO NETHERLY DITCH NO3 (6001239) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 13.1 cfs (max 15.4) exceeds total decreed absolute 9.3 cfs across 2680 recorded day(s).
• THEO NETHERLY DITCH NO1 (6000777) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 10.0 cfs (max 101.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 4.0 cfs across 7617 recorded day(s).
• EDER CREEK DITCH (6000586) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 10.0 cfs (max 11.3) exceeds total decreed absolute 3.0 cfs across 14640 recorded day(s).
• PARKWAY DITCH (6000730) DWR↗☆: Observed p99 daily rate 8.4 cfs (max 12.0) exceeds total decreed absolute 0.8 cfs across 16060 recorded day(s).

Seniority (top structures by decreed rate)

Structure	Senior priority date	Rights	Decreed abs (cfs)	Decreed abs (AF)	Conditional?
NATURITA CANAL (6000707) DWR↗☆	1884-05-31	9	1051.0	0	—
SAN MIGUEL RIVER (6002119) DWR↗☆	2011-01-25	1	325.0	0	—
SAN MIGUEL POWER CO CNL (6001100) DWR↗☆	1914-04-28	1	240.0	0	—
LONE CONE DITCH (6000672) DWR↗☆	1888-07-31	11	187.9	0	yes
HIGHLINE CANAL (6000633) DWR↗☆	1885-10-01	16	145.0	0	yes
LILYLANDS CANAL (6000670) DWR↗☆	1885-10-02	8	121.5	0	—
SAN MIGUEL RIVER (6001950) DWR↗☆	2002-01-23	1	93.0	0	—
AMES ILIUM HYDRO PROJ (6000511) DWR↗☆	1891-07-01	1	83.0	0	—
NUCLA POWER PLANT DITCH (6000723) DWR↗☆	1885-10-01	6	61.1	0	yes
J & M HUGHES DITCH (6000650) DWR↗☆	1926-10-21	2	51.9	0	yes
JOHNSON DITCH (6000827) DWR↗☆	1891-04-10	3	50.5	0	—
GURLEY DITCH (6001594) DWR↗☆	1884-05-31	1	50.0	0	—
MIRAMONTE SUPPLY DITCH (6000696) DWR↗☆	1964-11-05	1	40.0	0	—
HUGHES DITCH (6000643) DWR↗☆	1949-12-15	1	35.0	0	yes
BLUE LAKE SUPPLY PIPELINE BRIDAL VEIL BR (6001747) DWR↗☆	1919-08-01	3	32.5	0	yes

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 …

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
GENESEE PROPERTIES SOCIETY TURN	37-92-308(5) PLANS LESS THAN 5 YEARS	Approved	2027-06-30	—	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.