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SMITH RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 3503530 · 3 · TRINCHERA CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:01 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 1863-05-31 — 21st 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: SANGRE DE CRISTO D (1863-05-31). Immediately behind: INDIAN CREEK D (1864-05-01).
Decreed rights (28)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4899.0 | 1863-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 3 |
| 5235.0 | 1864-05-01 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 5 |
| 6330.0 | 1867-05-01 | 1900-11-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 61/2 |
| 6360.0 | 1867-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 6 |
| 6528.0 | 1867-11-15 | 1900-11-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 81/2 |
| 7091.0 | 1869-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 9 |
| 8157.0 | 1872-05-01 | 1900-11-26 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 181/2 |
| 8917.0 | 1874-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 27 |
| 9252.0 | 1875-05-01 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 29 |
| 10743.0 | 1879-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 34 |
| 11109.0 | 1880-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 35 |
| 13210.0 | 1886-03-02 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 38 |
| 13818.0 | 1887-10-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 39 |
| 13858.0 | 1887-12-10 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 40 |
| 14761.0 | 1890-05-31 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 44 |
| 16546.0 | 1895-04-20 | 1899-12-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 45 |
| 20791.0 | 1906-12-04 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | IRR | 94 |
| 21140.0 | 1907-11-18 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 671/2 |
| 21376.0 | 1908-07-11 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 70 |
| 21376.0 | 1908-07-11 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 71 |
| 21453.0 | 1908-09-26 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 72 |
| 21509.0 | 1908-11-21 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 74 |
| 22156.0 | 1910-08-30 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 79 |
| 22254.0 | 1910-12-06 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 80 |
| 22320.0 | 1911-02-10 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 81 |
| 22324.0 | 1911-02-14 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 82 |
| 22377.0 | 1911-04-08 | 1915-01-04 | 5000.0 | 0.0 | A | IRRAUG | 95 |
| 22386.0 | 1911-04-17 | 1915-01-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 86 |
Legal record & documents
37 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
W3458, W3148, CA0659.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W3458 | 2 | 1915-01-04 | S |
W3148 | 34 | 1915-01-04 | O, S |
CA0659 | 1 | 1915-01-04 | 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 1,557 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 4,501 AF — 289% of that, and 13th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,601 | 9th lowest of 15 · 103% of median | — | 152 | 74.9 |
| 2011 | 639 | 4th lowest of 15 · 41% of median | 214 | 214 | 10.5 |
| 2012 | 1 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 765 | 30 | 0.3 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 1% of median | 6 | 36 | 0.1 |
| 2014 | 1,834 | 10th lowest of 15 · 118% of median | 4,426 | 214 | 12.7 |
| 2015 | 1,276 | 5th lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 5,384 | 214 | 8.0 |
| 2016 | 1,393 | 7th lowest of 15 · 90% of median | 1,636 | 180 | 13.3 |
| 2017 | 2,439 | 11th lowest of 15 · 157% of median | 3,685 | 213 | 79.0 |
| 2018 | 1,557 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 2,972 | 214 | 12.7 |
| 2019 | 1,376 | 6th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 2,663 | 202 | 8.0 |
| 2020 | 179 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 12% of median | 1 | 60 | 3.4 |
| 2021 | 12,003 | 15th lowest of 15 · 771% of median | 1,311 | 295 | 120.6 |
| 2022 | 4,812 | 14th lowest of 15 · 309% of median | 2,391 | 365 | 69.9 |
| 2023 | 3,858 | 12th lowest of 15 · 248% of median | — | 365 | 51.3 |
| 2024 | 4,501 | 13th lowest of 15 · 289% of median | — | 305 | 57.8 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is rising over its last 15 recorded years (+268 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.029).
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
| Check | State | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| identity | complete | name, type, and water source all on file |
| decreed rights | on file | 28 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 5340 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 68% 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.