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HIGGASON SPRINGS

Structure dossier · WDID 1500614 · PIPELINE · SAINT CHARLES RIVER · DWR record

Higgason Springs is a pipeline on Saint Charles River 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 10:15 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.

In short

HIGGASON SPRINGS holds 12 decreed rights on SAINT CHARLES RIVER. No call currently reaches it that we can lawfully attribute, so none of its rights are being curtailed by one. 13 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 36 acre-feet. It was a party to 1 court cases that also touched 3 other structures.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (6 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 (diversion). Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.

Current administration

● In priority — no active call senior to this structure's rights affects its district (20 active call(s) checked).

13 further calls state no district and sit outside this one, so they are counted here rather than assumed either way.

Which of its rights are out of priority?

No active call verifiably reaches this structure (20 active call(s) checked), so none of its 12 rights is administratively curtailed today. (13 call(s) state no district and sit outside this one — not judged, not assumed.) In the 5 past years most like this one (2019, 2020, 2022, 2025, 2010), 7 of the rights shown below were out at least one week in at least one analog year.

Right (priority)NowAnalog years outMajority out by
1859-05-01 3408 — 0 of 5 —
1862-12-31 4748 — 0 of 5 —
1865-04-30 5599 — 0 of 5 —
1866-05-01 5965 — 0 of 5 —
1868-04-01 6666 — 0 of 5 —
1871-04-01 7761 — 2 of 5 —
1871-05-02 7792 — 2 of 5 —
1873-06-01 8553 — 2 of 5 —
1875-12-31 9496 — 2 of 5 —
1876-12-31 9862 — 2 of 5 —
1881-12-31 11688 — 2 of 5 —
1886-12-31 13514 — 5 of 5 2026-09-27
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 GREENHORN CREEK ABOVE RYE CO around 2026-09-27 (the newest reading on file) — currently 100% of that gage's own median for this window — to pick the 5 most similar past years with complete administration records (2005–2026). 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 1859-05-01 — 10th most senior of the 704 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: COLD SPRING COLL GALLERY (1859-05-01). Immediately behind: GRANEROS CREEK FEEDER (1859-05-01).

On MAINSTEM at river mile 14.2, it is 79th of 596 down the reach. Immediately upstream: IRON SPRINGS PIPELINE. Immediately downstream: ANGELOVICH SPRINGS.

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 (12)

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
3408.00000 1859-05-011893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 2.2 cfs Municipal 3
4748.00000 1862-12-311893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.4 cfs Municipal 8
5599.00000 1865-04-301893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.8 cfs Municipal 15
5965.00000 1866-05-011893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.6 cfs Municipal 23
6666.00000 1868-04-011893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.6 cfs Municipal 38
7761.00000 1871-04-011893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.45 cfs Municipal 57
7792.00000 1871-05-021893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.66 cfs Municipal 60
8553.00000 1873-06-011893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.9 cfs Municipal 88
9496.00000 1875-12-311893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.6 cfs Municipal 99
9862.00000 1876-12-311893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.125 cfs Municipal 106
11688.00000 1881-12-311893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.5 cfs Municipal 139
13514.00000 1886-12-311893-06-26 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.6 cfs Municipal 169, 173.5

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.

Filings that would move water above this headgate

1 water-court application in the monthly resumes names a structure on SAINT CHARLES RIVER upstream of this headgate. A new right, exchange or change of use up there changes what arrives down here — the resume is the public notice, and the opposition window is how anyone affected answers it.

MonthCaseWhat it asksUpstream structuresOppose by
2026-05 2026CW3026 — LAKE ISABEL (6.3 mi up) 2026-07-31

Judged on this structure’s own named stream only — a filing on a tributary that joins upstream is not judged here. Filings that name structures only in prose, without a WDID, are invisible to this card. Reading aid, not legal advice; the deadline is computed from C.R.S. 37-92-302(3), and the court’s own notice controls.

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 36 AF. Its most recent year on record, 1984, came in at 0 AF — 0% of that, and 1st lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.

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 recordDays recordedPeak (cfs)
1959 60 11th lowest of 15 · 167% of median 365 0.1
1960 60 11th lowest of 15 · 167% of median 305 0.1
1961 20 5th lowest of 15 · 56% of median 103 0.1
1962 40 9th lowest of 15 · 111% of median 202 0.1
1963 4 2nd lowest of 15 · 11% of median 19 0.1
1969 24 6th lowest of 15 · 67% of median 61 0.2
1970 145 14th lowest of 15 · 403% of median 365 0.2
1971 121 13th lowest of 15 · 336% of median 304 0.2
1972 24 6th lowest of 15 · 67% of median 61 0.2
1973 168 15th lowest of 15 · 467% of median 298 0.5
1975 49 10th lowest of 15 · 136% of median 124 0.2
1977 13 3rd lowest of 15 · 36% of median 35 0.2
1978 36 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median 140 0.2
1979 13 3rd lowest of 15 · 36% of median 66 0.1
1984 0 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median 1 0.0

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
CheckStateDetail
identity complete name, type, and water source all on file
decreed rights on file 12 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record stale 5615 measured days, but newest is 15356 day(s) before the data's end (target 450)
record continuity patchy 63% of the irrigation seasons in 1943-1984 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.

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