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LAKE MEREDITH

Structure dossier · WDID 1703525 · RESERVOIR · ARKANSAS RIVER · DWR record

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 2026-10-12 14:40 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DWR’s own records name no owner for a ditch, reservoir or well, so this comes from the source shown and can be out of date.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.

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 LAKE MEREDITH (completed 1926)
Hazard class Significant
Condition at last inspection Conditionally Satisfactory (2026-06-03)
Storage restriction None on file
Normal storage 39,804 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 ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT(COLORADO-KANSAS STATE LINE) (ARKANSAS RIVER, priority 1949-05-30).

● Junior rights called out — call at JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR (ARKANSAS RIVER, priority 1905-04-07).

Which of its rights are out of priority?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: no gage record for this year at this date, so there is nothing to find analogs for. Today’s position is a separate question, and it is answered in Current administration above — that screen reads the district’s active calls and needs no reference gage.

Where it sits in line

Priority 1881-03-10 — 8th most senior of the 1909 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: 1700540 (1881-03-10). Immediately behind: FORT LYON CANAL (1884-04-15).

On MAINSTEM at river mile 41.1, it is 107th of 458 down the reach. Immediately upstream: 1714235. Immediately downstream: 1714418.

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 (11)

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
11392.00000 1881-03-101890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 2.0 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +4 81
11428.00000 1881-04-151890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.6 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +4 86
11443.00000 1881-04-301890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 0.8 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +4 87
11474.00000 1881-05-311890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.3 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +4 90
11657.00000 1881-11-301890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.0 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +4 95
11808.00000 1882-04-301890-06-19 0.0 cfs 0.0 1.6 cfs Irrigation, Municipal +3 110
19465.15340 1891-12-311916-11-25 0.0 AF 0.0 6355.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +3 0
19465.17600 1898-03-091916-11-25 26028.4 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Municipal +3 0
21715.00000 1909-06-151916-11-25 0.0 AF 0.0 3561.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +3 0
24435.18515 1900-09-101932-10-13 0.0 AF 0.0 2000.0 AF Irrigation, Municipal +3 0
56978.56395 2004-05-272006-12-31 0.0 cfs 0.0 700.0 cfs All beneficial uses 06CW0120

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.

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 7,810 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 250 AF — 3% of that, and 3rd lowest of the 12 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 17,967 8th lowest of 12 · 230% of median 723 80 188.8
2012 20,007 9th lowest of 12 · 256% of median 18,974 117 282.5
2013 1,551 4th lowest of 12 · 20% of median 35,882 58 34.2
2014 — no recorded volume 22,401 0 —
2015 2,083 5th lowest of 12 · 27% of median 44,030 23 156.0
2016 25,190 11th lowest of 12 · 323% of median 35,240 100 248.2
2017 24,240 10th lowest of 12 · 310% of median 25,212 102 305.2
2018 4,969 6th lowest of 12 · 64% of median 32,617 17 168.0
2019 17 2nd lowest of 12 · 0% of median 31,560 7 3.5
2020 — no recorded volume 24,442 0 —
2021 10,650 7th lowest of 12 · 136% of median 30,353 157 55.1
2022 26,564 12th lowest of 12 · 340% of median 20,212 161 289.2
2023 — no recorded volume 20,535 0 —
2024 0 1st lowest of 12 · 0% of median 35,825 61 0.0
2025 250 3rd lowest of 12 · 3% of median 37,194 304 63.0

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 11 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record current 1187 measured days, newest 331 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears)
record continuity sparse 10% of the irrigation seasons in 1968-2025 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.

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