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SAYER LEES DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 0700655 · DITCH · CLEAR CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:49 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 1862-06-14 — 52nd 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: SLATER DITCH (1862-05-16). Immediately behind: WOLFF DITCH (1862-07-04).
On MAINSTEM at river mile 53.8, it is 85th of 107 down the reach. Immediately upstream: OUELETTE DITCH. Immediately downstream: BLUFF 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 (1)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4548.0 | 1862-06-14 | 1884-10-04 | 3.9384 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISDOMAUGWLD |
Legal record & documents
13 decreed actions on record across
10 court cases:
W8762, W8083, 89CW0099, 88CW0105, 86CW0398, 85CW0409, 83CW0361, 82CW0359, 10/04/1884, 05CW0112.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W8762 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
W8083 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
89CW0099 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
88CW0105 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
86CW0398 | 2 | 1884-10-04 | O |
85CW0409 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
83CW0361 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
82CW0359 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
10/04/1884 | 1 | 1884-10-04 | O |
05CW0112 | 2 | 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 78 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 71 AF — 91% of that, and 5th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 37 | 1st lowest of 15 · 47% of median | 135 | 0.2 |
| 2012 | 63 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 81% of median | 68 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 79 | 9th lowest of 15 · 101% of median | 117 | 1.0 |
| 2014 | 78 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 137 | 0.9 |
| 2015 | 70 | 4th lowest of 15 · 90% of median | 94 | 0.9 |
| 2016 | 139 | 14th lowest of 15 · 178% of median | 118 | 1.1 |
| 2017 | 104 | 12th lowest of 15 · 133% of median | 63 | 2.4 |
| 2018 | 103 | 11th lowest of 15 · 132% of median | 81 | 1.9 |
| 2019 | 139 | 14th lowest of 15 · 178% of median | 95 | 1.5 |
| 2020 | 77 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 117 | 0.9 |
| 2021 | 86 | 10th lowest of 15 · 110% of median | 95 | 1.4 |
| 2022 | 109 | 13th lowest of 15 · 140% of median | 126 | 1.4 |
| 2023 | 75 | 6th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 134 | 1.6 |
| 2024 | 54 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 69% of median | 88 | 0.5 |
| 2025 | 71 | 5th lowest of 15 · 91% of median | 83 | 0.9 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 15 recorded years — which is itself worth knowing.
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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | current | 2779 measured days, newest 316 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears) |
| record continuity | sparse | 27% 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.