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RED FEATHER LAKES SUB

Structure dossier · WDID 0302201 · OTHER · CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER · DWR record

Red Feather Lakes Sub is a water structure on Cache La Poudre River in Colorado. This page is its public record: the water it has a right to, whether it may take it today, and its history, compiled from the Colorado Division of Water Resources.

Source DWR administrative record · verify at DWR structure ↗ Source DWR administrative record · verify at DWR diversion records ↗ Source Our computation, scored against a reference · scored against DWR's call analysis, see /methods

Where this page's figures come from

Generated 2026-10-25 13:22 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260928 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (7055959) — every figure regenerates from this named code version and data image.

The record and the river

In short

RED FEATHER LAKES SUB holds 1 decreed right on CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER. A call at WINDSOR RES on CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER (1890-07-07) currently reaches it: fully called out. 1 further call state no district and sit outside this one, so it is counted here rather than assumed either way. That is today's position; the weeks ahead cannot be projected for it: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it. In a median year over its last 15 recorded years it diverts 283 acre-feet.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (5 checked). The detail, with its method, is in the cards below.

Download this structure

Everything on this page as data you can work with — and a README that makes it citable: the HydroBase snapshot it was built from, the build commit, what every column means, the method behind each derived figure, and that method's stated limits.

⇩ Full record (.zip) Print / save as PDF

Or one table at a time: rights.csv · annual_use.csv · curtailment_now.csv · court_cases.csv · co_parties.csv · call_climatology.csv

What is in the bundle
  • rights.csv — every decreed right, most senior first, with admin numbers, dates, amounts, uses and case numbers.
  • annual_use.csv — recorded diversion by year, with releases accounted separately.
  • curtailment_now.csv — each right's current priority status and how often it was out across analog years.
  • court_cases.csv — the cases attached to its rights.
  • co_parties.csv — the other structures that were parties to those cases. Not available anywhere else.
  • call_climatology.csv — how often each right has been out of priority by week of season, with confidence intervals and the seasons the record could actually judge.
  • README.txt — provenance, methods, limits, disclaimer, and links back to DWR's own records for verification.

Where it sits

Location as DWR records it (other). Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.

Current administration

● Fully called out — call at WINDSOR RES (CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER, priority 1890-07-07).

Which of its rights are out of priority?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it. Today’s position is a separate question, and it is answered in Current administration above — that screen reads the district’s active calls and needs no reference gage.

Where it sits in line

Priority 1977-06-09 — 2405th most senior of the 2964 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: KELLY FLATS CAMPGROUND WELL (1976-09-20). Immediately behind: DIXON WELL NO 4-111981 (1977-07-31).

Decreed rights (1)

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. Alt-pointAn absolute amount decreed at another structure that may be diverted here instead -- an alternate point of diversion or an exchange. DWR calls this the APEX amount; a right showing 0.0 absolute but an alt-point amount is exercised here under another structure's decree. Decreed forWhat the court said this water may be used for -- irrigation, municipal supply, augmentation and so on.Case
46546.00000 1977-06-091978-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 7.0 cfs Irrigation, Recreation +3 W9460

Amounts marked cfs are flow rates; AF are stored volumes (storage rights are decreed in acre-feet). An absolute amount of 0.0 beside an alt-point amount is not a dead right: the water is decreed at another structure, and that row records permission to divert it here instead (an alternate point or exchange). A case listing several numbers reflects the original decree plus later change cases.

Recorded use (last 15 years on record)

Years far under the decreed amount? That gap has a name — paper water vs. wet water, explained on this structure.

In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 283 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2006, came in at 147 AF — 52% of that, and 3rd lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.

This structure records both diversions and reservoir releases — they are separate water movements and are accounted separately below.

YearDiverted (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 recordReleased (AF)Days recordedPeak (cfs)
1992 265 7th lowest of 15 · 94% of median 337 62 2.5
1993 320 10th lowest of 15 · 113% of median 302 62 6.6
1994 342 11th lowest of 15 · 121% of median 443 65 7.4
1995 460 14th lowest of 15 · 162% of median 248 32 7.5
1996 239 6th lowest of 15 · 84% of median 325 32 3.9
1997 318 9th lowest of 15 · 112% of median 214 62 4.4
1998 208 4th lowest of 15 · 74% of median 292 73 1.8
1999 283 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median 225 62 2.4
2000 22 1st lowest of 15 · 8% of median 372 28 0.9
2001 455 13th lowest of 15 · 161% of median 325 79 6.0
2002 54 2nd lowest of 15 · 19% of median 329 62 0.6
2003 672 15th lowest of 15 · 238% of median 323 155 5.0
2004 377 12th lowest of 15 · 133% of median 221 73 4.9
2005 237 5th lowest of 15 · 84% of median 378 32 3.9
2006 147 3rd lowest of 15 · 52% of median 224 60 3.8

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
CheckStateDetail
identity complete name, type, and water source all on file
decreed rights on file 1 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record present 1366 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against)
record continuity sparse 31% of the irrigation seasons in 1986-2006 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.

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