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BLUFF DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 0700523 · DITCH · CLEAR CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:21 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (4ab2507) — 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 SWADLEY LONGAN DITCH (RALSTON CREEK, priority 1861-04-09).
● Fully called out — call at CLEAR CR PLATTE RIVER D (CLEAR CREEK, priority 1861-11-01).
Which of its rights are out of priority?
Not computable for this structure: only 2 analog year(s) have both flow and a complete administration record; 4 needed.
Where it sits in line
Priority 1863-05-26 — 64th most senior of the 1815 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: 0700581 (1863-05-21). Immediately behind: SLATER MOODY DITCH (1863-06-20).
On MAINSTEM at river mile 53.8, it is 86th of 107 down the reach. Immediately upstream: SAYER LEES DITCH. Immediately downstream: CROWN HILL CEMETERY RES.
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 (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4894.0 | 1863-05-26 | 1884-10-04 | 1.3786 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUN | |
| 5261.0 | 1864-05-27 | 1884-10-04 | 1.2742 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUN |
Legal record & documents
18 decreed actions on record across
7 court cases:
W8762, W8083, 85CW0409, 82CW0359, 17CW3210, 10/04/1884, 05CW0112.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W8762 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
W8083 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
85CW0409 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
82CW0359 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
17CW3210 | 4 | 1884-10-04 | O |
10/04/1884 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
05CW0112 | 4 | 1884-10-04 | 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 86 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 6 AF — 7% of that, and 3rd 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 120 | 11th lowest of 15 · 140% of median | 104 | 1.0 |
| 1985 | 191 | 12th lowest of 15 · 222% of median | 104 | 2.0 |
| 1986 | 226 | 14th lowest of 15 · 263% of median | 98 | 1.8 |
| 1987 | 216 | 13th lowest of 15 · 251% of median | 106 | 4.7 |
| 2009 | 237 | 15th lowest of 15 · 276% of median | 98 | 2.3 |
| 2010 | 105 | 10th lowest of 15 · 122% of median | 56 | 1.7 |
| 2011 | 99 | 9th lowest of 15 · 115% of median | 50 | 1.6 |
| 2014 | 65 | 7th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 58 | 1.4 |
| 2016 | 3 | 1st lowest of 15 · 4% of median | 5 | 0.6 |
| 2017 | 3 | 1st lowest of 15 · 4% of median | 5 | 0.6 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 7% of median | 8 | 0.8 |
| 2019 | 86 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 39 | 1.5 |
| 2021 | 26 | 6th lowest of 15 · 30% of median | 17 | 1.3 |
| 2024 | 11 | 5th lowest of 15 · 13% of median | 42 | 0.4 |
| 2025 | 6 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 7% of median | 9 | 0.7 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is falling over its last 15 recorded years (-5 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.005).
Its reference gage, LEE AND BAUGH DITCH TAIL: no clear flow trend.
How good is our record of it?
Grade B (8/10 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 | current | 1201 measured days, newest 400 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears) |
| record continuity | sparse | 12% of the irrigation seasons in 1978-2025 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.