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WORSTER RES

Structure dossier · WDID 0303726 · RESERVOIR · SHEEP CREEK · DWR record

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 2026-10-13 14:15 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260928 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (dd58e60) — every figure regenerates from this named code version and data image.

Who owns it

DWR’s own records name no owner for a ditch, reservoir or well, so this comes from the source shown and can be out of date. Organisations only: a private landowner’s name is never listed.

The record and the river

Where this structure is measured

GageFlowing nowRecordHow we know
WORSTER RESERVOIR OUTLET WOROUTCO 0.0 cfs 2026–2026, 60 days DWR telemetry mapping

A green link is DWR's own: either its telemetry inventory maps this WDID to that station, or the station is named for this WDID (0700553 → 0700553A). An amber one is ours — the station sits within 250 m and shares a distinctive word with this structure's name, which is a strong hint rather than a DWR statement that this gage meters this structure. Wrong? Tell us.

Flowing now

0.0 cfs as of 2026-10-13 12:15 (2.0 h ago)

Zero is a real reading: the gage is reporting, and it says this structure is not diverting right now.

Provisional 15-minute telemetry from WOROUTCO ↗ (WORSTER RESERVOIR OUTLET). Raw, not the approved record — it is never merged into the diversion history below. DWR publishes the official diversion record after the water year closes and is approved, which is why that record ends months back while this reads minutes ago.

In short

WORSTER RES holds 13 decreed rights on SHEEP CREEK. No active call senior to its rights reaches its district today (20 active calls checked), so it is in priority now. 4 further calls state no district and sit outside this one, so they are counted here rather than assumed either way. That is today's position; the weeks ahead cannot be projected for it: no administrative call record for this basin. In a median year over its last 15 recorded years it diverts 3,130 acre-feet. That use is falling by about 173.0 acre-feet a year over 15 years (p=0.010072435153279713). It was a party to 1 court cases that also touched 4 other structures.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (10 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 (storage). Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.

Dam safety

Dam WORSTER (completed 1911)
Hazard class Significant
Condition at last inspection Satisfactory (2025-10-08)
Storage restriction None on file
Normal storage 3,750 AF
Physical status Active
Emergency action plan Yes

Source: DWR Dam Safety’s jurisdictional-dam inventory (damsafety/damsafetydaminfojd), refreshed weekly. Joined on this structure’s own WDID as DWR records it on the dam. Hazard class describes the consequence of failure, not the likelihood of it. DWR’s dam record.

Current administration

● In priority — no active call senior to this structure's rights affects its district (20 active call(s) checked).

4 further calls state no district and sit outside this one, so they are counted here rather than assumed either way.

Which of its rights are out of priority?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: no administrative call record for this basin. 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 1862-03-01 — 61st 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: BARNES MEADOW RESERVOIR (1862-03-01). Immediately behind: WATER SUPPLY & STORAGE RES 6 (1862-03-01).

On SHEEP CREEK at river mile 65.5, it is 2nd of 16 down the reach. Immediately upstream: SHEEP CREEK RES. Immediately downstream: E P COLLINS DITCH NO 1.

Position on the modelled network, not a claim about whose water this is — a stream carries water from many rights at once, and diverted water returns to it.

Decreed rights (13)

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
4443.00000 1862-03-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.5392 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0422, 03CW0421
5372.00000 1864-09-151882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.6957 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0421, 03CW0422
6649.00000 1868-03-151882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.2337 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0422, 03CW0421
8480.00000 1873-03-201882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.2008 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0421, 03CW0422
10318.00000 1878-04-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.362 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0422, 03CW0421
11438.00000 1881-04-251882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 23.2036 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0421, 03CW0422
21013.00000 1907-07-141922-04-22 1515.0 AF 0.0 — Irrigation CA2031
21516.00000 1908-11-281922-04-22 1525.0 AF 0.0 — Irrigation CA2031
22129.00000 1910-08-031922-04-22 707.0 AF 0.0 — Irrigation CA2031
23646.00000 1914-09-281945-12-18 0.0 cfs 0.0 3.183 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
26409.23646 1914-09-281945-12-18 0.0 cfs 0.0 9.1679 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0422
56224.00000 2003-12-082003-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 2409.52 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0422, 03CW0421
57687.00000 2007-12-102007-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 300.0 cfs Municipal 07CW0328

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 3,130 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 990 AF — 32% of that, and 1st 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)
2011 4,837 15th lowest of 15 · 154% of median 3,655 319 100.3
2012 2,871 7th lowest of 15 · 92% of median 1,880 255 179.0
2013 3,208 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median 4,091 298 62.0
2014 4,144 12th lowest of 15 · 132% of median 4,061 330 48.9
2015 4,167 13th lowest of 15 · 133% of median 4,328 321 39.9
2016 3,898 11th lowest of 15 · 124% of median 4,057 238 50.0
2017 2,866 6th lowest of 15 · 92% of median 4,676 188 43.2
2018 3,130 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median 4,121 194 58.6
2019 4,746 14th lowest of 15 · 152% of median 4,255 244 65.0
2020 2,005 2nd lowest of 15 · 64% of median 3,552 260 29.1
2021 3,895 10th lowest of 15 · 124% of median 3,459 267 60.4
2022 2,479 4th lowest of 15 · 79% of median 3,627 75 47.6
2023 2,761 5th lowest of 15 · 88% of median 3,556 83 49.7
2024 2,055 3rd lowest of 15 · 66% of median 3,746 58 67.0
2025 990 1st lowest of 15 · 32% of median — 59 28.0

How good is our record of it?

Grade A (10/10 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 13 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record current 13150 measured days, newest 441 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears)
record continuity continuous 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1972-2025 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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