Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
BIGHORN RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 1203816 · 3 · WEST BEAVER CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:17 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 1890-06-10 — 308th most senior of the 1967 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: HYSSONG DITCH (1890-06-01). Immediately behind: WILSON RESERVOIR (1890-06-10).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14771.0 | 1890-06-10 | 1916-02-14 | 191.1039 | 0.0 | A | MUNINDFIRDOMALL | NI25.25 |
Legal record & documents
1 decreed actions on record across
1 court case:
CA2637.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA2637 | 1 | 1916-02-14 | 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 11 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 84 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 337 AF — 401% of that, and 9th lowest of the 9 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 37 | 4th lowest of 9 · 44% of median | — | 22 | 5.0 |
| 2016 | 6 | 2nd lowest of 9 · 7% of median | — | 62 | 0.7 |
| 2017 | — | no recorded volume | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2018 | 6 | 2nd lowest of 9 · 7% of median | — | 21 | 0.3 |
| 2019 | 120 | 6th lowest of 9 · 143% of median | 122 | 43 | 5.7 |
| 2020 | 166 | 7th lowest of 9 · 198% of median | 441 | 32 | 7.5 |
| 2021 | — | no recorded volume | 114 | 0 | — |
| 2022 | 3 | 1st lowest of 9 · 4% of median | — | 62 | 0.0 |
| 2023 | 84 | 5th lowest of 9 · 100% of median | 181 | 257 | 2.0 |
| 2024 | 302 | 8th lowest of 9 · 360% of median | 316 | 366 | 75.6 |
| 2025 | 337 | 9th lowest of 9 · 401% of median | 453 | 304 | 89.8 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 9 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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 1169 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 52% of the irrigation seasons in 2015-2025 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.