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SAWMILL DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 3600797 · 1 · WILLOW CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:32 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 1918-05-01 — 300th most senior of the 1247 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: WHATLEY NO 5 DITCH (1912-05-15). Immediately behind: WILLOW BROOK WELL NO 11 (1918-05-01).
Decreed rights (2)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30184.24957 | 1918-05-01 | 1937-10-26 | 6.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOM | 235, 85 |
| 47389.0 | 1979-09-30 | 1979-12-31 | 0.33 | 0.0 | C | IRRSTK |
Legal record & documents
4 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
84CW0131, 79CW0321, CA1710, CA1709.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
84CW0131 | 1 | 1979-12-31 | S |
79CW0321 | 1 | 1979-12-31 | S |
CA1710 | 1 | 1937-10-26 | S |
CA1709 | 1 | 1937-10-26 | 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 251 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 183 AF — 73% of that, and 3rd 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 207 | 6th lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 157 | 1.4 |
| 2010 | 317 | 11th lowest of 15 · 126% of median | 140 | 1.6 |
| 2012 | 4 | 1st lowest of 15 · 2% of median | 4 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 203 | 5th lowest of 15 · 81% of median | 82 | 1.5 |
| 2014 | 187 | 4th lowest of 15 · 74% of median | 74 | 1.6 |
| 2015 | 414 | 14th lowest of 15 · 165% of median | 124 | 2.0 |
| 2016 | 339 | 12th lowest of 15 · 135% of median | 93 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | 393 | 13th lowest of 15 · 157% of median | 142 | 2.2 |
| 2018 | 275 | 9th lowest of 15 · 110% of median | 120 | 1.9 |
| 2019 | 86 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 34% of median | 119 | 0.5 |
| 2020 | 251 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 118 | 1.5 |
| 2021 | 473 | 15th lowest of 15 · 188% of median | 142 | 3.8 |
| 2022 | 302 | 10th lowest of 15 · 120% of median | 122 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 233 | 7th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 123 | 1.2 |
| 2024 | 183 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 73% of median | 147 | 1.2 |
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 (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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 7301 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 55% of the irrigation seasons in 1963-2024 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.