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VALLECITO RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 3103518 · 3 · LOS PINOS RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:47 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (a1c9146) — 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 1935-11-13 — 363rd most senior of the 1037 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: OCHSNER DITCH (1935-01-23). Immediately behind: VALLECITO RES (INDIAN) (1935-11-13).
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. | Units | UsesWhat the court said this water may be used for -- irrigation, municipal supply, augmentation and so on. | Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31362.0 | 1935-11-13 | 1966-03-07 | 129674.703 | 0.0 | A | IRRMUNDOMSTKOTH | 65R-1 |
Legal record & documents
4 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
W0563, CA1248-B.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W0563 | 1 | 1966-03-07 | S |
CA1248-B | 3 | 1966-03-07 | 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 86,716 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 107,188 AF — 124% of that, and 12th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
This structure records both diversions and reservoir releases — they are separate water movements and are accounted separately below.
| 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 | Released (AF) | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 86,716 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 66,438 | 361 | 1145.9 |
| 2012 | 65,194 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 75% of median | 86,317 | 366 | 931.3 |
| 2013 | 117,906 | 13th lowest of 15 · 136% of median | 56,031 | 364 | 1619.0 |
| 2014 | 87,028 | 9th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 71,081 | 365 | 1405.3 |
| 2015 | 60,085 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 69% of median | 57,468 | 365 | 719.9 |
| 2016 | 66,683 | 4th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 57,159 | 366 | 635.2 |
| 2017 | 79,127 | 7th lowest of 15 · 91% of median | 80,989 | 365 | 1091.9 |
| 2018 | 45,934 | 1st lowest of 15 · 53% of median | 66,127 | 364 | 417.2 |
| 2019 | 119,987 | 15th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 63,974 | 365 | 1899.5 |
| 2020 | 68,249 | 5th lowest of 15 · 79% of median | 90,645 | 366 | 961.3 |
| 2021 | 75,267 | 6th lowest of 15 · 87% of median | 61,831 | 365 | 799.7 |
| 2022 | 96,645 | 11th lowest of 15 · 112% of median | 54,084 | 365 | 1053.5 |
| 2023 | 119,973 | 14th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 114,473 | 365 | 2877.0 |
| 2024 | 92,064 | 10th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 59,297 | 366 | 1213.5 |
| 2025 | 107,188 | 12th lowest of 15 · 124% of median | 89,557 | 304 | 5379.0 |
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 A (9/10 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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 17452 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1973-2025 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.