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MICHIGAN DITCH RELEASE STRUCTURE

Structure dossier · WDID 0304603 · OTHER · JOE WRIGHT 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 03:26 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DWR’s own records name no owner for a ditch, reservoir or well, so this comes from the source shown and can be out of date.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

This is water crossing the divide

Michigan Ditch Release Structure is the receiving end of the Michigan Ditch (ditch). It takes water from Michigan River, North Platte basin at Cameron Pass (Div 6) and delivers it to Joe Wright Creek, Cache la Poudre (Div 1). Water arriving here is an import: it was never in this basin’s own runoff.

The other end: Michigan Ditch Exchange Reach 4708000

Metered as a facility: MICDCPCO — the record for the crossing itself, which may run longer than the record for either structure.

Owner / operator: City of Fort Collins

From the site’s hand-curated register of transbasin facilities. Every crossing on one page →

Where this structure is measured

GageFlowing nowRecordHow we know
CAMERON PASS DITCH RELEASE STRUCTURE 0304602A — — co-located, 55 m

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.

In short

In a median year over its last 15 recorded years it diverts 3,940 acre-feet.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (2 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.

Which of its rights are out of priority?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: no decreed right on file, so there is no priority to test.

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 3,940 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 2,450 AF — 62% of that, and 6th 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 481 1st lowest of 15 · 12% of median 481 313 6.0
2012 1,674 4th lowest of 15 · 42% of median 1,674 351 18.0
2013 4,990 12th lowest of 15 · 127% of median 4,990 365 73.0
2014 3,856 7th lowest of 15 · 98% of median 3,856 345 28.0
2015 869 3rd lowest of 15 · 22% of median 869 365 14.5
2016 750 2nd lowest of 15 · 19% of median 750 366 9.3
2017 5,356 14th lowest of 15 · 136% of median 5,356 362 67.6
2018 4,321 9th lowest of 15 · 110% of median 4,321 356 56.5
2019 6,185 15th lowest of 15 · 157% of median 6,185 365 69.1
2020 3,940 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median 3,940 366 71.5
2021 2,325 5th lowest of 15 · 59% of median 2,325 321 37.7
2022 4,763 11th lowest of 15 · 121% of median 4,763 365 75.0
2023 5,307 13th lowest of 15 · 135% of median 5,307 365 57.5
2024 4,580 10th lowest of 15 · 116% of median 4,580 366 77.0
2025 2,450 6th lowest of 15 · 62% of median 2,450 304 39.8

How good is our record of it?

Grade C (6/10 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 absent no water rights cached for this WDID
diversion record present 5336 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against)
record continuity patchy 63% of the irrigation seasons in 1986-2025 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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