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MCKAY LAKE
Structure dossier · WDID 0203746 · RESERVOIR · SOUTH BOULDER CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:17 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 1888-05-01 — 751st 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: 2300997 (1888-04-20). Immediately behind: 0203747 (1888-05-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14001.0 | 1888-05-01 | 1900-12-19 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISDOMAUGWLD | |
| 18615.18319 | 1900-02-26 | 1905-04-10 | 956.8 | 0.0 | A | STOIRRMUNCOMINDRECFISFIRDOMSTK |
Legal record & documents
16 decreed actions on record across
6 court cases:
92CW0079, CA4735, 89CW0163, 20CW3216, 07CW0310, 02CW0292.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
92CW0079 | 7 | 1953-09-28 | S |
CA4735 | 1 | 1905-04-10 | S |
89CW0163 | 2 | 1905-04-10 | S |
20CW3216 | 2 | 1905-04-10 | S |
07CW0310 | 2 | 1905-04-10 | S |
02CW0292 | 2 | 1905-04-10 | S |
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 4 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 216 AF. Its most recent year on record, 1993, came in at 154 AF — 71% of that, and 2nd lowest of the 4 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 278 | 3rd lowest of 4 · 129% of median | 18 | 10.0 |
| 1979 | 555 | 4th lowest of 4 · 257% of median | 23 | 50.0 |
| 1992 | 40 | 1st lowest of 4 · 18% of median | 5 | 5.0 |
| 1993 | 154 | 2nd lowest of 4 · 71% of median | 18 | 5.0 |
How good is our record of it?
Grade B (7/10 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 | fragment | 64 measured day(s) on file (under 180 -- a season, not a history) |
| record continuity | unknown | record too short to assess continuity (needs 2+ years of span and 180+ 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.