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KIRKPATRICK (PRAIRIE D) RECHARGE PIT

Structure dossier · WDID 2002055 · RECHARGE AREA · RIO GRANDE · DWR record

Kirkpatrick (Prairie D) Recharge Pit is a water structure on Rio Grande 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 2026-10-19 07:29 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260928 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (26fd646) — every figure regenerates from this named code version and data image.

Where this structure is measured

GageFlowing nowRecordHow we know
KIRKPATRICK (PRAIRIE D) RECHARGE PIT 2002055A — 2011–2014, 1,188 days named for this WDID

A green link is DWR's own: either its telemetry inventory maps this WDID to that station, or the station is named for this WDID (0700553 → 0700553A). An amber one is ours — the station sits within 250 m and shares a distinctive word with this structure's name, which is a strong hint rather than a DWR statement that this gage meters this structure. Wrong? Tell us.

In short

KIRKPATRICK (PRAIRIE D) RECHARGE PIT holds 1 decreed right on RIO GRANDE. A call at CHICAGO D on RIO GRANDE (1881-09-01) currently reaches it: fully called out. 8 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: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it. In a median year over its last 12 recorded years it diverts 264 acre-feet. It was a party to 1 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 (administrative). Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.

Current administration

● Fully called out — call at CHICAGO D (RIO GRANDE, priority 1881-09-01).

Which of its rights are out of priority?

The outlook for the weeks ahead is not computable for this structure: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it. 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 1885-01-05 — 259th most senior of the 8023 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: SAN LUIS VALLEY CNL (1885-01-05). Immediately behind: KIRKPATRICK (SLV CANAL) RECHARGE PIT (1885-01-05).

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. 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
12789.00000 1885-01-051996-12-31 120.0 AF 0.0 — Recharge 96CW0005

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 12 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 264 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 198 AF — 75% of that, and 6th lowest of the 12 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)
2014 343 8th lowest of 12 · 130% of median 91 6.5
2015 343 8th lowest of 12 · 130% of median 123 6.7
2016 362 10th lowest of 12 · 137% of median 366 6.2
2017 330 7th lowest of 12 · 125% of median 365 4.9
2018 36 1st lowest of 12 · 14% of median 365 3.0
2019 395 11th lowest of 12 · 150% of median 365 5.7
2020 140 2nd lowest of 12 · 53% of median 366 5.6
2021 142 3rd lowest of 12 · 54% of median 304 3.9
2022 143 5th lowest of 12 · 54% of median 32 7.5
2023 460 12th lowest of 12 · 174% of median 184 7.1
2024 142 3rd lowest of 12 · 54% of median 40 4.3
2025 198 6th lowest of 12 · 75% of median 68 7.3

How good is our record of it?

Grade A (9/10 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 1 right(s), seniority decoded
diversion record present 2669 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against)
record continuity continuous 100% of the irrigation seasons in 2014-2025 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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