Hydrohistorian
Log in

← My Water  ·  All reservoirs in this district  ·  Print / save as PDF  · 

 ·  every download of this record carries its certificate id

CHERRY CREEK RESERVOIR

Structure dossier · WDID 0803532 · RESERVOIR · CHERRY CREEK · DWR record

Cherry Creek Reservoir is a reservoir on Cherry 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 2026-10-14 07:06 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DWR’s own records name no owner for a ditch, reservoir or well, so this comes from the source shown and can be out of date.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

In short

CHERRY CREEK RESERVOIR holds 39 decreed rights on CHERRY CREEK. As of 2026-10-02, 38 of them are out of priority under a call at admin 5112.00000 placed by SOUTH PLATTE RIVER AT WATERTON. Its 1 most senior right, back to 1862-05-01, keeps diverting. 7 further calls state no district and sit outside this one, so they are counted here rather than assumed either way. In a median year over its last 15 recorded years it diverts 5,438 acre-feet. It was a party to 5 court cases that also touched 12 other structures.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (11 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 CHERRY CREEK (completed 1935)
Hazard class High
Condition at last inspection — (2020-09-08)
Storage restriction None on file
Normal storage 13,226 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

● Junior rights called out — call at SOUTH PLATTE RIVER AT WATERTON (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1863-12-30).

● Junior rights called out — call at CHATFIELD RESERVOIR (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1865-12-30).

Which of its rights are out of priority?

Under today's controlling call (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER AT WATERTON, priority 1863-12-30): 38 of this structure's 39 rights are out of priority now. (7 call(s) state no district and sit outside this one — not judged, not assumed.) In the 5 past years most like this one (2017, 2025, 2024, 2016, 2018), 5 of the rights shown below were out at least one week in at least one analog year.

Right (priority)NowAnalog years outMajority out by
1862-05-01 4504 ● in priority 0 of 5 —
1869-07-30 7151 ● out 1 of 5 —
1874-06-30 8947 ● out 1 of 5 —
… 33 more rights between these …
1996-06-25 55153 ● out 5 of 5 2026-10-02
2001-07-27 55360 ● out 5 of 5 2026-10-02
2007-12-17 57694 ● out 5 of 5 2026-10-02
How this table is built, and what it is not

“Now” compares each right's admin number with today's most senior applicable active call. The outlook uses flows at CHERRY CREEK BELOW CHERRY CREEK LAKE, CO. around 2026-10-02 (the newest reading on file) — currently 48688% of that gage's own median for this window — to pick the 5 most similar past years with complete administration records (2015–2026). Only calls that verifiably apply count: DWR's own district statements in the call's set comments, a caller located in this district, or — on the same stream, where DWR records both stream miles (measured from the mouth) — a caller DOWNSTREAM of this structure. An upstream senior cannot demand water this diversion never deprives it of. Calls that state nothing and sit elsewhere are counted as unjudged rather than assumed, which also means the verified record is shorter than the raw one: early calls rarely state districts. For each week it finds the most senior call then in force; a right is out in that week exactly when that call is senior to it, which is why one line prices every right and juniors can be out while seniors keep diverting. “Majority out by” is the first week out in more than half the analog years. A frequency among named historical years, not a probability from a model, and not a forecast of what the division engineer will do. It says how often years whose flow resembled this one were under a call senior to this right in a given week. Snowpack, storage, and the actual administrative decisions of a given season are not modelled. Check the analog years listed: if they do not resemble this year to you, the outlook does not either.

Where it sits in line

Priority 1862-05-01 — 57th most senior of the 21886 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: 0805629 (1862-03-15). Immediately behind: RICH WELL 3-6702 (1862-05-01).

On CHERRY CREEK at river mile 94.3, it is 70th of 96 down the reach. Immediately upstream: ACWWA LRF RELEASE. Immediately downstream: EAST WABASH UNDERGROUND STORAGE STRUCTUR.

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 (40)

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
4504.00000 1862-05-011883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 24.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
7151.00000 1869-07-301883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 197.345 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
8947.00000 1874-06-301883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 43.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
9182.00000 1875-02-201883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 64.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
9312.00000 1875-06-301883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 38.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
11016.00000 1880-02-281883-12-10 0.0 AF 0.0 5.322 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
32629.00000 1939-05-031972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 124.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
36159.00000 1948-12-311972-05-18 0.0 AF 0.0 61.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
36656.00000 1950-05-121972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 124.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
36719.00000 1950-07-141972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 114.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
37730.00000 1953-04-201972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 106.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
37736.00000 1953-04-261971-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 190.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
38482.00000 1955-05-121972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 55.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
38489.00000 1955-05-191972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 43.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
39571.00000 1958-05-051972-05-18 10000.0 AF 0.0 — Recreation CA3635
39600.00000 1958-06-031972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 15.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
40258.00000 1960-03-221972-05-18 5580.0 AF 0.0 — Recreation CA3635
40714.00000 1961-06-211971-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 170.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
41645.00000 1964-01-081972-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.22 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
41757.00000 1964-04-291972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 136.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
41765.00000 1964-05-071971-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 73.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
42855.00000 1967-05-021972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 137.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
42955.00000 1967-08-101972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 10.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
44730.00000 1972-06-191982-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 81.53 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
45865.00000 1975-07-291978-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 260.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
46302.00000 1976-10-081978-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 103.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
46550.00000 1977-06-131972-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 114.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
46837.00000 1978-03-271986-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 160.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
47138.00000 1979-01-221980-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 158.1 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
47845.00000 1980-12-291980-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 1223.36 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
47905.00000 1981-02-271981-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 18.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
49673.00000 1985-12-311985-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 429.3 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
50038.00000 1986-12-311986-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 14464.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +8 86CW0388A
53291.00000 1995-11-271995-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 75.0 cfs Municipal 95CW0226, 23CW3155 +1
53872.00000 1997-06-301997-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 41.15 cfs Commercial, Recreation +3 22CW3080, 93CW0121
53872.00000 1997-06-301997-12-31 0.0 AF 0.0 2148.1 AF Commercial, Recreation +3 22CW3080, 93CW0121
54421.00000 1998-12-311998-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.34 cfs Storage, Irrigation +6 98CW0462, 21CW3051
55152.53502 1996-06-252001-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 400.0 cfs All beneficial uses 01CW0284
55360.00000 2001-07-272001-12-31 12805.0 AF 0.0 — Recreation, Fishery +2 21CW3197, 01CW0284 +1
57694.00000 2007-12-172007-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 50.0 cfs Municipal 22CW3058, 07CW0298

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.

How often is it out of priority?

Across the 11 seasons whose call record is complete enough to judge this structure (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026), week by week from April.

most senior right · admin 4504.00000 · never out of priority in these seasons
AprMayJunJulAugSep
middle right · admin 41757.00000 · peaks at 10 of 11 seasons
AprMayJunJulAugSep
most junior right · admin 57694.00000 · peaks at 10 of 11 seasons
AprMayJunJulAugSep
Why only 11 seasons, and what the bars mean

Each bar is one week: how many of those seasons that right was out of priority under a call this site can lawfully attribute to this structure. Green is never, red is every season on record.

The short record is a property of DWR's data, not of the river. A call only counts against a structure when we can establish it applies — by the districts named in its set comments, or by stream mile on the same source. DWR did not begin stating affected districts routinely until about 2015: fewer than one call in ten can be judged before then, against roughly two in three since. A season we cannot judge is not a season without calls, so it is dropped rather than counted as quiet — 12 seasons dropped here.

This is a frequency over past seasons, not a forecast. It says nothing about what the division engineer will do this year.

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 5,438 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 1,805 AF — 33% of that, and 2nd 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 7,736 9th lowest of 15 · 142% of median 769 209 295.2
2012 5,017 7th lowest of 15 · 92% of median 209 366 47.3
2013 9,521 10th lowest of 15 · 175% of median — 365 1014.4
2014 10,422 11th lowest of 15 · 192% of median — 363 172.4
2015 17,545 12th lowest of 15 · 323% of median 132 316 889.8
2016 20,250 13th lowest of 15 · 372% of median — 366 184.6
2017 21,832 14th lowest of 15 · 402% of median — 320 610.3
2018 2,523 3rd lowest of 15 · 46% of median 361 200 56.0
2019 5,438 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median 353 222 133.6
2020 2,576 4th lowest of 15 · 47% of median 106 233 71.4
2021 3,162 6th lowest of 15 · 58% of median 224 365 227.8
2022 822 1st lowest of 15 · 15% of median 12 365 45.5
2023 30,253 15th lowest of 15 · 556% of median 3 361 4318.1
2024 3,108 5th lowest of 15 · 57% of median 2 366 155.4
2025 1,805 2nd lowest of 15 · 33% of median — 304 132.3

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
CheckStateDetail
identity complete name, type, and water source all on file
decreed rights on file 40 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record current 5841 measured days, newest 336 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears)
record continuity patchy 54% of the irrigation seasons in 1975-2025 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.

Hydrohistorian is free, with no ads — one server and a lot of public records. If it earns its keep, you can help keep it running.