Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
HOME DITCH DITCH NO 81
Structure dossier · WDID 2800587 · 1 · COCHETOPA CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:57 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 1882-05-31 — 83rd most senior of the 1505 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: MCGOWAN IRRIGATING D ALT (1882-05-01). Immediately behind: MEANS BROS. NO. 11 DITCH (1882-05-31).
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. | Units | UsesWhat the court said this water may be used for -- irrigation, municipal supply, augmentation and so on. | Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16192.11839 | 1882-05-31 | 1904-04-29 | 2.4 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 61 |
| 38822.11839 | 1882-05-31 | 1961-12-15 | 7.6 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 374 |
| 38822.33024 | 1940-06-01 | 1961-12-15 | 15.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 391 |
Legal record & documents
9 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
CA5591, 17CW0048, CA1266.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA5591 | 2 | 1961-12-15 | S |
17CW0048 | 6 | 1961-12-15 | S |
CA1266 | 1 | 1904-04-29 | S |
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 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 506 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 506 AF — 100% of that, and 8th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
| 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 | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 659 | 10th lowest of 15 · 130% of median | 99 | 7.5 |
| 2011 | 822 | 13th lowest of 15 · 162% of median | 170 | 4.9 |
| 2012 | 302 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 60% of median | 110 | 2.4 |
| 2013 | 314 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 62% of median | 60 | 3.5 |
| 2015 | 196 | 1st lowest of 15 · 39% of median | 46 | 3.3 |
| 2016 | 446 | 6th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 65 | 9.3 |
| 2017 | 439 | 5th lowest of 15 · 87% of median | 101 | 4.7 |
| 2018 | 757 | 11th lowest of 15 · 150% of median | 171 | 3.4 |
| 2019 | 949 | 14th lowest of 15 · 188% of median | 93 | 8.5 |
| 2020 | 1,037 | 15th lowest of 15 · 205% of median | 154 | 4.8 |
| 2021 | 609 | 9th lowest of 15 · 120% of median | 79 | 4.6 |
| 2022 | 810 | 12th lowest of 15 · 160% of median | 89 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 487 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 102 | 2.9 |
| 2024 | 316 | 4th lowest of 15 · 62% of median | 59 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 506 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 103 | 4.6 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 15 recorded years — which is itself worth knowing.
How good is our record of it?
Grade B (7/10 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 | 3 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 4705 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 40% of the irrigation seasons in 1970-2025 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.