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NORTH ZAPATA CREEK PIPELINE
Structure dossier · WDID 3500663 · 7 · NORTH ZAPATA CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:36 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 1873-04-01 — 37th most senior of the 709 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: MEYER D (1873-04-01). Immediately behind: SOUTH ZAPATA CREEK PIPELINE (1873-04-01).
Decreed rights (13)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8492.0 | 1873-04-01 | 1895-03-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 1A |
| 10683.0 | 1879-04-01 | 1895-03-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 5A |
| 11779.0 | 1882-04-01 | 1895-03-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 9A |
| 13270.0 | 1886-05-01 | 1895-03-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 11A |
| 14246.0 | 1889-01-01 | 1895-03-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 19A |
| 19237.14975 | 1890-12-31 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 55 |
| 19237.1534 | 1891-12-31 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 57 |
| 19237.18809 | 1901-07-01 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 61 |
| 21279.0 | 1908-04-05 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 68 |
| 21599.0 | 1909-02-19 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 75 |
| 21650.0 | 1909-04-11 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 76 |
| 21650.0 | 1909-04-11 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRCOMRECAUG | 77 |
| 48577.48279 | 1982-03-08 | 1983-12-31 | 12.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Legal record & documents
13 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
83CW0094, 89CW0030.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
83CW0094 | 1 | 1983-12-31 | S |
89CW0030 | 12 | 1915-01-04 | O, 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 10 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 1,763 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 1,914 AF — 109% of that, and 6th lowest of the 9 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | — | no recorded volume | 46 | 0 | — |
| 1989 | 1,667 | 4th lowest of 9 · 95% of median | — | 260 | 6.7 |
| 1990 | 3,876 | 9th lowest of 9 · 220% of median | — | 260 | 25.0 |
| 1999 | 1,090 | 2nd lowest of 9 · 62% of median | — | 83 | 12.0 |
| 2000 | 1,542 | 3rd lowest of 9 · 88% of median | — | 155 | 13.4 |
| 2001 | 2,350 | 7th lowest of 9 · 133% of median | — | 155 | 12.0 |
| 2020 | 580 | 1st lowest of 9 · 33% of median | — | 170 | 8.2 |
| 2021 | 2,987 | 8th lowest of 9 · 169% of median | — | 216 | 7.0 |
| 2022 | 1,763 | 5th lowest of 9 · 100% of median | — | 155 | 19.1 |
| 2024 | 1,914 | 6th lowest of 9 · 109% of median | — | 193 | 10.0 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 9 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 | 13 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 1647 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 21% of the irrigation seasons in 1988-2024 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.