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DESERT DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 3800639 · 1 · CAPITOL CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 21:06 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 1888-11-04 — 281st most senior of the 4788 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: GRISTY DITCH (1886-04-01). Immediately behind: NEEDHAM WASTE WATER D (1889-11-15).
Decreed rights (4)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19475.14188 | 1888-11-04 | 1903-04-30 | 4.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 203A |
| 23853.15862 | 1893-06-05 | 1915-11-15 | 7.2 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 210A |
| 24577.19524 | 1903-06-16 | 1917-05-21 | 3.96 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 219D |
| 30941.25723 | 1920-06-05 | 1936-08-25 | 1.71 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 412D |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 1,203 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 1,654 AF — 138% of that, and 14th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1,316 | 11th lowest of 15 · 109% of median | 120 | 7.0 |
| 2009 | 2,204 | 15th lowest of 15 · 183% of median | 140 | 10.0 |
| 2010 | 914 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 155 | 7.1 |
| 2011 | 1,203 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 135 | 7.0 |
| 2013 | 980 | 5th lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 137 | 4.8 |
| 2014 | 1,276 | 9th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 126 | 6.5 |
| 2015 | 1,450 | 13th lowest of 15 · 120% of median | 157 | 6.0 |
| 2016 | 917 | 4th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 109 | 6.5 |
| 2017 | 1,307 | 10th lowest of 15 · 109% of median | 150 | 6.0 |
| 2018 | 377 | 1st lowest of 15 · 31% of median | 84 | 2.5 |
| 2019 | 1,427 | 12th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 137 | 7.0 |
| 2020 | 748 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 62% of median | 117 | 4.0 |
| 2021 | 1,115 | 6th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 146 | 5.0 |
| 2022 | 1,135 | 7th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | 143 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 1,654 | 14th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 180 | 6.0 |
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.