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FOSSIL CREEK RES

Structure dossier · WDID 0303774 · RESERVOIR · FOSSIL CREEK · DWR record

Fossil Creek Res is a reservoir on Fossil Creek 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 2026-10-13 21:58 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DWR’s own records name no owner for a ditch, reservoir or well, so this comes from the source shown and can be out of date.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
FOSSIL CREEK OUTLET FOSOUTCO 41.93 cfs 2016–2026, 3,712 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

41.93 cfs as of 2026-10-13 20:00 (2.0 h ago)

Provisional 15-minute telemetry from FOSOUTCO ↗ (FOSSIL CREEK 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

FOSSIL CREEK RES holds 37 decreed rights on FOSSIL 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 14 recorded years it diverts 7,150 acre-feet. That use is falling by about 642.0 acre-feet a year over 14 years (p=0.0487449207397066). It was a party to 17 court cases that also touched 10 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 FOSSIL CREEK (completed 1903)
Hazard class High
Condition at last inspection Satisfactory (2026-06-26)
Storage restriction None on file
Normal storage 11,100 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 1861-06-01 — 30th 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: PORTNER RESERVOIR (1861-06-01). Immediately behind: CLAYMORE LAKE RES (1861-06-01).

On FOSSIL CREEK at river mile 128.6, it is 5th of 6 down the reach. Immediately upstream: PORTNER RESERVOIR. Immediately downstream: JACOBY-SCHMIDT DITCH.

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 (38)

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
4170.00000 1861-06-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.3693 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
4443.00000 1862-03-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.139 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
5372.00000 1864-09-151882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.179 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
5579.00000 1865-04-101882-04-11 0.0 AF 0.0 547.8 AF Municipal, Augmentation +1 14CW3176
5579.00000 1865-04-101882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 15.82 cfs Municipal, Augmentation +1 14CW3176
5904.00000 1866-03-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 2.5391 cfs Municipal, Augmentation +1 14CW3176
6026.00000 1866-07-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.1108 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 W1424, 92CW0129 +1
6354.00000 1867-05-251882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.6508 cfs Municipal, Augmentation +1 14CW3176
6483.00000 1867-10-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 4.1971 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
6649.00000 1868-03-151882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.06 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
6727.00000 1868-06-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.1108 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 W1424, 92CW0129 +1
6757.00000 1868-07-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.932 cfs Municipal, Augmentation +1 14CW3176
7092.00000 1869-06-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.8567 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
7184.00000 1869-09-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 2.1967 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 W1424, 92CW0129 +1
7761.00000 1871-04-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 16.2457 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 W1424, 92CW0129 +1
7953.00000 1871-10-101882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 4.3882 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
8218.00000 1872-07-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 7.6521 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
8237.00000 1872-07-201882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 8.6828 cfs Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
8480.00000 1873-03-201882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.052 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
8492.00000 1873-04-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 107.4697 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
8645.00000 1873-09-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 30.3703 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 W1424, 05CW0323 +1
9236.00000 1875-04-151882-04-11 0.0 AF 0.0 849.5551 AF Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
10318.00000 1878-04-011882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.093 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
11003.00000 1880-02-151882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 34.3814 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +1 92CW0129, W1424 +1
11438.00000 1881-04-251882-04-11 0.0 cfs 0.0 5.98 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
15716.00000 1893-01-101882-04-11 0.0 AF 0.0 285.1349 AF Municipal 05CW0323
18691.00000 1901-03-051904-12-09 12051.9999 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Municipal +8 01CW0246, 03CW0348 +15
20066.19875 1904-06-011922-04-22 1544.9999 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Municipal +8 12CW0163, 12CW0096 +15
21392.00000 1908-07-271922-04-22 0.0 AF 0.0 454.7655 AF Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
23646.00000 1914-09-281945-12-18 0.0 cfs 0.0 3.183 cfs Storage, All beneficial uses 03CW0421
35050.08218 1872-07-011953-09-10 0.0 cfs 0.0 11.981 cfs Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
35050.08492 1873-04-011953-09-10 0.0 cfs 0.0 96.7758 cfs Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
35050.10736 1879-05-241953-09-10 0.0 cfs 0.0 40.5178 cfs Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
35050.11003 1880-02-151953-09-10 0.0 cfs 0.0 59.2519 cfs Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
35050.18691 1901-03-051953-09-10 12051.9999 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Municipal +8 01CW0246, 03CW0348 +15
46751.00000 1977-12-311977-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 50.0 cfs Municipal, All beneficial uses W9322, 15CW3053 +1
46751.20669 1906-08-041978-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 134.8195 AF Municipal 92CW0129, 05CW0323
56224.00000 2003-12-082003-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 7.6 cfs Storage, Irrigation +8 03CW0421, 03CW0422

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 7,150 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 555 AF — 8% of that, and 1st lowest of the 14 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 18,537 14th lowest of 14 · 259% of median 15,793 324 178.0
2012 12,245 12th lowest of 14 · 171% of median 13,969 365 171.4
2013 4,383 5th lowest of 14 · 61% of median 4,417 222 67.3
2014 5,607 6th lowest of 14 · 78% of median 5,149 253 153.0
2015 9,888 11th lowest of 14 · 138% of median 10,365 363 239.0
2016 9,335 10th lowest of 14 · 131% of median 13,441 355 111.1
2017 8,604 9th lowest of 14 · 120% of median 6,825 342 222.1
2018 6,700 7th lowest of 14 · 94% of median 1,206 259 117.0
2019 4,273 4th lowest of 14 · 60% of median 3,320 305 85.2
2020 2,076 2nd lowest of 14 · 29% of median 4,871 157 65.5
2021 2,994 3rd lowest of 14 · 42% of median 3,596 61 82.3
2022 7,599 8th lowest of 14 · 106% of median 7,109 316 337.9
2023 12,386 13th lowest of 14 · 173% of median 3,238 222 1724.8
2024 — no recorded volume 6,892 0 —
2025 555 1st lowest of 14 · 8% of median 0 9 40.0

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 38 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record current 15794 measured days, newest 355 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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