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FRYING PAN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 3800698 · 1 · FRYINGPAN RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 02:17 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 1883-04-20 — 95th 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: CRAMER DITCH (1883-04-15). Immediately behind: MERRILL DIVERSION (1883-05-02).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12163.0 | 1883-04-20 | 1889-05-11 | 0.3 | 0.0 | C | IRRAUG | 60 |
| 30941.14868 | 1890-09-15 | 1936-08-25 | 1.74 | 0.0 | C | IRRAUG | 313 |
Legal record & documents
6 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
CA3082, 90CW0138, CA0132.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA3082 | 1 | 1936-08-25 | S |
90CW0138 | 4 | 1936-08-25 | O, S |
CA0132 | 1 | 1889-05-11 | O |
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 740 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 740 AF — 100% of that, and 5th lowest of the 14 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 982 | 12th lowest of 14 · 133% of median | — | 165 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 327 | 2nd lowest of 14 · 44% of median | — | 165 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | — | no recorded volume | 14 | 0 | — |
| 2012 | 740 | 5th lowest of 14 · 100% of median | 740 | 184 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 219 | 1st lowest of 14 · 30% of median | 219 | 55 | 2.0 |
| 2015 | 740 | 5th lowest of 14 · 100% of median | 740 | 184 | 2.0 |
| 2016 | 740 | 5th lowest of 14 · 100% of median | 740 | 184 | 2.0 |
| 2017 | 524 | 4th lowest of 14 · 71% of median | 524 | 154 | 2.0 |
| 2018 | 862 | 9th lowest of 14 · 116% of median | 862 | 214 | 2.0 |
| 2019 | 489 | 3rd lowest of 14 · 66% of median | 489 | 184 | 2.0 |
| 2020 | 862 | 9th lowest of 14 · 116% of median | 862 | 214 | 2.0 |
| 2021 | 1,109 | 13th lowest of 14 · 150% of median | 1,109 | 275 | 2.0 |
| 2022 | 1,226 | 14th lowest of 14 · 166% of median | 1,226 | 304 | 2.0 |
| 2023 | 862 | 9th lowest of 14 · 116% of median | 862 | 214 | 2.0 |
| 2024 | 740 | 5th lowest of 14 · 100% of median | 740 | 184 | 2.0 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 14 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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 3192 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 30% of the irrigation seasons in 1975-2024 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.