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ADOBE CREEK RESERVOIR

Structure dossier · WDID 1703546 · RESERVOIR · ADOBE CREEK · 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 12:32 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

ADOBE CREEK RESERVOIR holds 3 decreed rights on ADOBE CREEK. No active call senior to its rights reaches its district today (17 active calls checked), so it is in priority now. 16 further calls state no district and sit outside this one, so they are counted here rather than assumed either way. That is today's position; the weeks ahead cannot be projected for it: the call record covers no complete season at this date. In a median year over its last 14 recorded years it diverts 28,409 acre-feet. It was a party to 2 court cases that also touched 2 other structures.

Assembled from the figures on this page — every number above is checked against them before it is shown (7 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.

Current administration

● In priority — no active call senior to this structure's rights affects its district (17 active call(s) checked).

16 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?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: the call record covers no complete season at this date. 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 1896-08-01 — 53rd 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: HORSE CREEK RESERVOIR (1896-08-01). Immediately behind: NEESOPAH RESERVOIR (1896-08-01).

On ADOBE CREEK at river mile 71.4, it is 7th of 18 down the reach. Immediately upstream: ADOBE CREEK RES (ADOBE). Immediately downstream: ADOBE VALLEY DITCH.

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 (3)

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
20186.17015 1896-08-011927-02-03 0.0 AF 0.0 5483.0 AF Irrigation R6
20478.00000 1906-01-251928-11-08 61575.0 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Commercial +1 R24.5
21547.00000 1908-12-291928-11-08 25425.0 AF 0.0 — Irrigation, Commercial +1 R41

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.

Water-court filings naming this structure

1 application in the monthly water-court resumes explicitly reference this WDID. The resume is the earliest public notice of a new claim (C.R.S. 37-92-302) — years before anything reaches the decree record below. Most applications name structures by name rather than WDID, so absence here is weak evidence of absence.

MonthCaseWhat it asksOppose byExcerpt
2026-02 2019CW3036 — closed 2026-04-30 CASE NO. 2019CW3036; LOWER ARKANSAS WATER MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (“LAWMA”), c/o Roy Cue, Manager, P. O. Box 1161, Lamar, Colorado 81052 (Please address all pleadings and inquiries regarding this matter to Applicant’s att…

Source: Judicial Branch combined monthly resumes (archive), indexed nightly; WDIDs attached only when a 7-digit token in the filing matches DWR’s structure inventory.

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 28,409 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 13,672 AF — 48% of that, and 4th lowest of the 14 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 11,247 3rd lowest of 14 · 40% of median — 26 275.0
2012 — no recorded volume 23,664 0 —
2013 15,523 5th lowest of 14 · 55% of median — 45 218.0
2014 19,900 6th lowest of 14 · 70% of median 9,704 60 287.0
2015 107,125 14th lowest of 14 · 377% of median 7,295 198 627.1
2016 76,102 13th lowest of 14 · 268% of median 57,715 144 703.6
2017 62,375 12th lowest of 14 · 220% of median 43,599 130 660.0
2018 2,874 1st lowest of 14 · 10% of median 32,602 6 396.0
2019 29,437 8th lowest of 14 · 104% of median — 67 596.0
2020 55,804 11th lowest of 14 · 196% of median 27,446 98 386.0
2021 27,381 7th lowest of 14 · 96% of median 0 98 299.0
2022 11,090 2nd lowest of 14 · 39% of median 12,996 108 352.0
2023 49,159 10th lowest of 14 · 173% of median — 109 314.0
2024 48,101 9th lowest of 14 · 169% of median — 110 497.0
2025 13,672 4th lowest of 14 · 48% of median 33,744 60 396.0

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 3 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record current 1441 measured days, newest 331 day(s) before the data's end (DWR publishes ~1 year in arrears)
record continuity sparse 9% of the irrigation seasons in 1949-2025 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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