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GERMAN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 0200872 · DITCH · BIG DRY CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:29 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (0576005) — every figure regenerates from this named code version and data image.
Where it sits
Location as DWR records it. Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.
Current administration
● Fully called out — call at LOWER LATHAM DITCH (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1877-11-14).
● Fully called out — call at WESTERN MUTUAL DITCH (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1871-08-09).
Which of its rights are out of priority?
Not computable for this structure: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it.
Where it sits in line
Priority 1885-11-30 — 710th most senior of the 21881 structures with decreed rights in this water districtDWR's administrative subdivision of a river basin; the unit calls are usually stated in..
Under prior appropriationColorado's rule for sharing water: first in time, first in right. Age decides, not proximity or need., everything ahead of it in this line is satisfied in full before it receives any water. Immediately ahead: UNITED DIVERSION FACILITY NO 3 (1885-11-20). Immediately behind: WHIPPLE DITCH (1885-12-31).
Decreed rights (2)
| Admin noDWR's numeric encoding of a water right's seniority. Smaller is more senior; the integer part counts days from 1849-12-31 to the date that ranks the right. | AppropriatedWhen water was first put to beneficial use. It sets seniority unless a prior adjudication date is later. | AdjudicatedWhen the water court confirmed the right. A use decreed in 1975 was not a decreed use in 1955, however old the appropriation is. | AbsoluteA right actually put to use, as opposed to conditional -- a placeholder for a use not yet made. | ConditionalA right reserving a place in line for a use not yet made; it must be diligently pursued or it lapses. | Units | UsesWhat the court said this water may be used for -- irrigation, municipal supply, augmentation and so on. | Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13118.0 | 1885-11-30 | 1888-02-15 | 0.99 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 15895.13113 | 1885-11-25 | 1918-08-02 | 40.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Legal record & documents
13 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
CA54658, 01CW0273, CA8568.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA54658 | 11 | 1918-08-02 | S |
01CW0273 | 1 | 1918-08-02 | S |
CA8568 | 1 | 1888-02-15 | O |
DWR's own records for this structure: net amounts · transactions & adjudication history · scanned decrees (search a case number there for the imaged document). On this site: the district's full legal picture →
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 1,690 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 2,199 AF — 130% of that, and 12th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
| Year | Diverted (AFA volume: one acre covered a foot deep, about 326,000 gallons -- roughly a suburban household's outdoor use for a year.) | Compared with its own record | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,611 | 14th lowest of 15 · 154% of median | 143 | 15.5 |
| 2011 | 2,849 | 15th lowest of 15 · 169% of median | 175 | 21.3 |
| 2012 | 1,275 | 5th lowest of 15 · 75% of median | 83 | 15.5 |
| 2013 | 1,166 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 69% of median | 114 | 18.8 |
| 2014 | 2,047 | 11th lowest of 15 · 121% of median | 161 | 14.2 |
| 2015 | 2,242 | 13th lowest of 15 · 133% of median | 172 | 13.8 |
| 2016 | 1,244 | 4th lowest of 15 · 74% of median | 116 | 12.3 |
| 2017 | 2,021 | 10th lowest of 15 · 120% of median | 166 | 17.1 |
| 2018 | 1,672 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 143 | 20.1 |
| 2019 | 1,913 | 9th lowest of 15 · 113% of median | 119 | 18.3 |
| 2020 | 1,174 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 70% of median | 89 | 13.7 |
| 2021 | 1,035 | 1st lowest of 15 · 61% of median | 82 | 18.8 |
| 2022 | 1,690 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 157 | 30.6 |
| 2023 | 1,343 | 6th lowest of 15 · 80% of median | 365 | 25.5 |
| 2024 | 2,199 | 12th lowest of 15 · 130% of median | 305 | 24.3 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 15 recorded years — which is itself worth knowing.
How good is our record of it?
Grade B (8/10 points) — the components below are the finding; the letter alone is not.
The rubric, component by component
| Check | State | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| identity | complete | name, type, and water source all on file |
| decreed rights | on file | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 7527 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 51% of the irrigation seasons in 1956-2024 carry measured days |
| published-record stability | stable | no upstream revisions recorded against this structure |
Advisory reading aid on public data — not an administrative or legal conclusion, not a title opinion, and not a substitute for DWR administration or an engineer's analysis. Methodology review status is disclosed at hydrohistorian's basin pages.