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RURAL DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 0600551 · DITCH · BOULDER CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 03:00 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (5cd37f7) — 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.
Current administration
● Fully called out — call at JONES DONNELLY DITCH (SOUTH BOULDER CREEK, priority 1860-04-30).
● Fully called out — call at HOWARD DITCH (SOUTH BOULDER CREEK, priority 1860-04-01).
● Junior rights called out — call at LOWER LATHAM DITCH (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1885-11-20).
Which of its rights are out of priority?
Not computable for this structure: only 3 analog year(s) have both flow and a complete administration record; 4 needed.
Where it sits in line
Priority 1862-05-10 — 52nd most senior of the 1867 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: LAST CHANCE DITCH (1862-05-01). Immediately behind: BOULDER LEFT HAND DITCH (1862-06-01).
On MAINSTEM at river mile 28.8, it is 67th of 78 down the reach. Immediately upstream: STROMQUIST POND 1. Immediately downstream: STROMQUIST POND 2.
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 (14)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4513.0 | 1862-05-10 | 1882-06-02 | 22.75 | 0.0 | C | STOIRRMUNINDRECFISAUGCURRCHWLD | |
| 4817.0 | 1863-03-10 | 1882-06-02 | 60.25 | 0.0 | C | STOIRRMUNINDRECFISAUGCURRCHWLD | |
| 54876.0 | 2000-03-30 | 1998-12-31 | 0.0 | 7.0 | C | RECFISFIR | |
| 55058.0 | 2000-09-28 | 1998-12-31 | 0.0 | 7.0 | C | RECFISFIR | |
| 55374.0 | 2001-08-10 | 2001-12-31 | 42.2 | 47.8 | C | IRRCOMINDRECFISDOMSTKAUGWLD | |
| 55451.0 | 2001-10-26 | 2001-12-31 | 5.41 | 19.59 | C | IRRCOMINDRECFISAUGWLD | |
| 56613.53964 | 1997-09-30 | 2005-12-31 | 40.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMINDRECFISAUGCURRCH | |
| 56613.55216 | 2001-03-05 | 2005-12-31 | 0.0 | 40.0 | C | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISAUGALL | |
| 56977.0 | 2005-12-30 | 2005-12-31 | 0.0 | 2000.0 | A | AUGCURRCH | |
| 56977.0 | 2005-12-30 | 2005-12-31 | 0.0 | 50.0 | C | AUGCURRCH | |
| 60265.0 | 2014-12-31 | 2014-12-31 | 0.0 | 50.0 | C | COMINDFIR | |
| 60740.0 | 2016-04-19 | 2016-12-31 | 0.0 | 90.0 | C | INDRECFISAUGCURRCH | |
| 60996.57242 | 2006-09-21 | 2017-12-31 | 12.73 | 17.27 | C | IRRINDRECFISFIRAUGCURRCH | |
| 62077.0 | 2019-12-17 | 2019-12-31 | 0.0 | 15.0 | C | MUNAUGALL |
Legal record & documents
73 decreed actions on record across
22 court cases:
19CW3236, 17CW3202, 16CW3119, 14CW3172, 17CW3165, 05CW0335, 05CW0331, 05CW0315, 17CW3144, 17CW3106 and 12 more below.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
19CW3236 | 7 | 2019-12-31 | O, S |
17CW3202 | 6 | 2017-12-31 | O, S |
16CW3119 | 7 | 2016-12-31 | O, S |
14CW3172 | 1 | 2014-12-31 | S |
17CW3165 | 3 | 2005-12-31 | S |
05CW0335 | 1 | 2005-12-31 | S |
05CW0331 | 19 | 2005-12-31 | S |
05CW0315 | 1 | 2005-12-31 | S |
17CW3144 | 1 | 2001-12-31 | S |
17CW3106 | 1 | 2001-12-31 | S |
14CW3026 | 1 | 2001-12-31 | S |
01CW0274 | 1 | 2001-12-31 | S |
01CW0193 | 1 | 2001-12-31 | S |
15CW3096 | 1 | 2000-12-31 | S |
00CW0083 | 1 | 2000-12-31 | S |
98CW0427 | 2 | 1998-12-31 | S |
CA1336 | 2 | 1882-06-02 | O |
84CW0412 | 1 | 1882-06-02 | O |
13CW0029 | 4 | 1882-06-02 | O |
07CW0022 | 4 | 1882-06-02 | O |
03CW0306 | 4 | 1882-06-02 | O |
01CW0255 | 4 | 1882-06-02 | 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 6,397 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 6,685 AF — 104% of that, and 12th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
| 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 | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8,033 | 14th lowest of 15 · 126% of median | 214 | 40.0 |
| 2010 | 7,904 | 13th lowest of 15 · 124% of median | 235 | 38.0 |
| 2011 | 6,143 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 214 | 46.0 |
| 2012 | 6,550 | 10th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 234 | 30.0 |
| 2013 | 5,301 | 5th lowest of 15 · 83% of median | 158 | 42.3 |
| 2014 | 4,993 | 4th lowest of 15 · 78% of median | 226 | 40.1 |
| 2015 | 3,974 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 62% of median | 204 | 48.2 |
| 2016 | 3,254 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 51% of median | 199 | 26.1 |
| 2017 | 6,634 | 11th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 273 | 38.4 |
| 2018 | 8,460 | 15th lowest of 15 · 132% of median | 262 | 37.8 |
| 2019 | 6,541 | 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 236 | 30.9 |
| 2020 | 6,397 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 230 | 44.5 |
| 2023 | 506 | 1st lowest of 15 · 8% of median | 67 | 20.1 |
| 2024 | 6,136 | 6th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 242 | 20.7 |
| 2025 | 6,685 | 12th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 246 | 173.0 |
Call-derived yield: senior right divertible 100.0% of a median season / 50.9% dry-year.
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 15 recorded years — which is itself worth knowing.
Its reference gage, SMITH EMMONS DITCH: no clear flow trend.
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 | 14 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | current | 11177 measured days, newest 299 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears) |
| record continuity | patchy | 69% of the irrigation seasons in 1950-2025 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.