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WARD DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 0900958 · 1 · BEAR CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 03:50 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (2deb1d7) — 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.
Which of its rights are out of priority?
Not computable for this structure: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it.
Where it sits in line
Priority 1861-12-01 — 18th most senior of the 2058 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: GW&SD WELL NO 019310-F (1861-06-01). Immediately behind: BEAR CR GALLERY 28903-F (1861-12-01).
Decreed rights (10)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4353.0 | 1861-12-01 | 1884-02-04 | 0.971 | 0.0 | C | IRROTH | |
| 4362.0 | 1861-12-10 | 1884-02-04 | 1.5513 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 4488.0 | 1862-04-15 | 1884-02-04 | 5.26 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOMSTK | |
| 4627.0 | 1862-09-01 | 1884-02-04 | 1.0163 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 4808.0 | 1863-03-01 | 1884-02-04 | 2.606 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 4808.0 | 1863-03-01 | 1884-02-04 | 30.0 | 0.0 | A | IRR | |
| 5418.0 | 1864-10-31 | 1884-02-04 | 2.0058 | 0.0 | C | IRROTH | |
| 5553.0 | 1865-03-15 | 1884-02-04 | 3.1413 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 5570.0 | 1865-04-01 | 1884-02-04 | 0.9048 | 0.0 | C | IRROTH | |
| 12028.0 | 1882-12-06 | 1884-02-04 | 10.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRAUG |
Legal record & documents
17 decreed actions on record across
9 court cases:
CA91471, W8120, CA6832, CA51268, 93CW0053, 84CW0204, 82CW0425, 81CW0104, 16CW3183.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA91471 | 1 | 1935-09-24 | O |
W8120 | 3 | 1884-02-04 | O |
CA6832 | 1 | 1884-02-04 | O |
CA51268 | 2 | 1884-02-04 | O |
93CW0053 | 2 | 1884-02-04 | O |
84CW0204 | 1 | 1884-02-04 | O |
82CW0425 | 2 | 1884-02-04 | O |
81CW0104 | 3 | 1884-02-04 | O |
16CW3183 | 2 | 1884-02-04 | 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 2,143 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 1,818 AF — 85% of that, and 4th 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.
| 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 | Released (AF) | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,993 | 6th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | — | 185 | 9.0 |
| 2011 | 2,143 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | — | 201 | 8.0 |
| 2012 | 1,398 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 65% of median | — | 197 | 8.0 |
| 2013 | 1,988 | 5th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | — | 165 | 9.3 |
| 2014 | 4,277 | 15th lowest of 15 · 200% of median | — | 221 | 14.0 |
| 2015 | 2,710 | 13th lowest of 15 · 126% of median | — | 215 | 10.0 |
| 2016 | 2,004 | 7th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | — | 234 | 8.5 |
| 2017 | 2,736 | 14th lowest of 15 · 128% of median | — | 229 | 12.0 |
| 2018 | 1,023 | 1st lowest of 15 · 48% of median | — | 232 | 12.1 |
| 2019 | 2,233 | 10th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | — | 214 | 10.0 |
| 2020 | 1,091 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 51% of median | — | 223 | 8.5 |
| 2021 | 2,375 | 12th lowest of 15 · 111% of median | — | 255 | 7.5 |
| 2022 | 2,218 | 9th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | — | 225 | 9.4 |
| 2023 | 2,312 | 11th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | — | 215 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 1,818 | 4th lowest of 15 · 85% of median | — | 211 | 9.3 |
Call-derived yield: senior right divertible 100.0% of a median season / 61.2% dry-year.
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 15 recorded years — which is itself worth knowing.
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 | 10 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 8557 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 54% of the irrigation seasons in 1951-2024 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.