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WATSON LAKE
Structure dossier · WDID 0303766 · 3 · CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:09 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (2deb1d7) — 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.
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 1868-03-15 — 83rd most senior of the 2961 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: CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER (1868-03-15). Immediately behind: NOAH PHILO BRISTOL D (1870-03-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6649.0 | 1868-03-15 | 1882-04-11 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | AUG | |
| 47116.41098 | 1962-07-10 | 1979-12-31 | 416.0 | 0.0 | A | FIS |
Legal record & documents
2 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
79CW0051, 83CW0311.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
79CW0051 | 1 | 1979-12-31 | S |
83CW0311 | 1 | 1882-04-11 | 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 201 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2023, came in at 163 AF — 81% of that, and 5th 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.
| 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 | Released (AF) | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 75 | 1st lowest of 15 · 37% of median | 77 | 305 | 0.4 |
| 2010 | 113 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 56% of median | 94 | 306 | 0.4 |
| 2011 | 183 | 6th lowest of 15 · 91% of median | 6 | 365 | 0.9 |
| 2012 | 239 | 13th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 11 | 366 | 1.1 |
| 2013 | 201 | 7th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 3 | 365 | 0.7 |
| 2014 | 201 | 7th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | — | 335 | 0.7 |
| 2015 | 115 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 57% of median | 93 | 365 | 0.4 |
| 2016 | 399 | 15th lowest of 15 · 198% of median | 115 | 366 | 2.8 |
| 2017 | 215 | 10th lowest of 15 · 107% of median | 11 | 365 | 0.7 |
| 2018 | 224 | 11th lowest of 15 · 111% of median | 35 | 365 | 0.7 |
| 2019 | 228 | 12th lowest of 15 · 113% of median | 7 | 365 | 0.7 |
| 2020 | 333 | 14th lowest of 15 · 166% of median | 8 | 366 | 1.8 |
| 2021 | 211 | 9th lowest of 15 · 105% of median | 9 | 365 | 0.9 |
| 2022 | 126 | 4th lowest of 15 · 63% of median | — | 305 | 0.5 |
| 2023 | 163 | 5th lowest of 15 · 81% of median | 4 | 304 | 0.6 |
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 A (9/10 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 | 10787 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1990-2023 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.