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HOWARD DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 3700658 · 1 · EAGLE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:16 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 1884-07-24 — 28th most senior of the 2162 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: F E W NO 2 DITCH (1884-06-18). Immediately behind: HOWARD AND WINSLOW DITCH (1884-07-24).
Decreed rights (9)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12624.0 | 1884-07-24 | 1889-12-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 26 |
| 16251.14645 | 1890-02-04 | 1901-03-05 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 157 |
| 17696.0 | 1898-06-13 | 1901-03-05 | 2.2 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 180 |
| 20427.20269 | 1905-06-30 | 1907-06-04 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 252 |
| 21756.14441 | 1889-07-15 | 1909-10-25 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 282 |
| 30894.14776 | 1890-06-15 | 1936-10-03 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 379 |
| 30894.18061 | 1899-06-13 | 1936-10-03 | 11.92 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 385 |
| 30894.20634 | 1906-06-30 | 1936-10-03 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNRECFISFIRDOMSTK | 401 |
| 30894.20977 | 1907-06-08 | 1936-10-03 | 3.04 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 404 |
Legal record & documents
25 decreed actions on record across
8 court cases:
W3999, W3133, CA0963, 96CW0373, 93CW0189, 81CW0195, 08CW0200, CA0385.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W3999 | 10 | 1936-10-03 | O, S |
W3133 | 4 | 1936-10-03 | S |
CA0963 | 1 | 1936-10-03 | S |
96CW0373 | 1 | 1936-10-03 | S |
93CW0189 | 2 | 1936-10-03 | S |
81CW0195 | 4 | 1936-10-03 | S |
08CW0200 | 2 | 1936-10-03 | S |
CA0385 | 1 | 1901-03-05 | 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 1,306 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 858 AF — 66% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,306 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 122 | 8.5 |
| 2011 | 2,095 | 12th lowest of 15 · 160% of median | 150 | 7.8 |
| 2012 | 2,641 | 13th lowest of 15 · 202% of median | 187 | 9.2 |
| 2013 | 1,541 | 9th lowest of 15 · 118% of median | 138 | 7.8 |
| 2014 | 1,725 | 10th lowest of 15 · 132% of median | 167 | 8.7 |
| 2015 | 1,888 | 11th lowest of 15 · 145% of median | 190 | 7.8 |
| 2016 | 2,742 | 14th lowest of 15 · 210% of median | 183 | 12.2 |
| 2017 | 3,001 | 15th lowest of 15 · 230% of median | 195 | 11.8 |
| 2018 | 1,296 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 177 | 7.2 |
| 2019 | 1,001 | 6th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 163 | 4.5 |
| 2020 | 783 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 60% of median | 170 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 904 | 4th lowest of 15 · 69% of median | 275 | 3.8 |
| 2022 | 909 | 5th lowest of 15 · 70% of median | 365 | 3.7 |
| 2023 | 663 | 1st lowest of 15 · 51% of median | 365 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 858 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 66% of median | 304 | 3.4 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is falling over its last 15 recorded years (-102 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.013).
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 | 9 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 9837 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 63% of the irrigation seasons in 1951-2024 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.