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KELSO DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 3800798 · 1 · ROARING FORK RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 05:26 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 1885-04-15 — 161st 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: HERRING WELL NO 1 (1885-04-01). Immediately behind: KELSO DITCH PT DVR 1 (1885-04-15).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12889.0 | 1885-04-15 | 1889-05-11 | 0.6674 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 114 |
| 30941.14715 | 1890-04-15 | 1936-08-25 | 1.8954 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 297 |
| 32907.31655 | 1936-09-01 | 1949-08-25 | 0.4672 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 447 |
| 38137.0 | 1954-06-01 | 1958-06-20 | 5.0 | 0.0 | C | FIS | 697 |
| 51864.42155 | 1965-06-01 | 1992-12-31 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IND | |
| 51864.47968 | 1981-05-01 | 1992-12-31 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 51867.0 | 1992-01-03 | 1992-12-31 | 5.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRRECFIS | |
| 53873.0 | 1997-07-01 | 1997-12-31 | 8.0 | 0.0 | C | RECFIS | |
| 56614.0 | 2005-01-01 | 2005-12-31 | 0.1 | 0.0 | C | IRRSTK |
Legal record & documents
19 decreed actions on record across
13 court cases:
12CW0084, 05CW0056, 98CW0201, 97CW0167, 94CW0304, 92CW0304, 92CW0215, W0816, CA4613, W1973 and 3 more below.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
12CW0084 | 1 | 2005-12-31 | S |
05CW0056 | 1 | 2005-12-31 | S |
98CW0201 | 1 | 1997-12-31 | S |
97CW0167 | 1 | 1997-12-31 | S |
94CW0304 | 1 | 1992-12-31 | S |
92CW0304 | 2 | 1992-12-31 | S |
92CW0215 | 1 | 1992-12-31 | S |
W0816 | 1 | 1958-06-20 | S |
CA4613 | 1 | 1958-06-20 | S |
W1973 | 6 | 1949-08-25 | O, S |
CA3723 | 1 | 1949-08-25 | S |
CA3082 | 1 | 1936-08-25 | 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 4,562 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2020, came in at 11,470 AF — 251% of that, and 10th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 1,820 | 4th lowest of 15 · 40% of median | 191 | 7.0 |
| 1994 | 2,026 | 5th lowest of 15 · 44% of median | 200 | 5.6 |
| 1995 | 1,112 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 24% of median | 231 | 8.0 |
| 1996 | 1,796 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 39% of median | 366 | 5.2 |
| 1997 | 2,482 | 6th lowest of 15 · 54% of median | 304 | 10.1 |
| 2001 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 2 | 0.0 |
| 2004 | 2,529 | 7th lowest of 15 · 55% of median | 117 | 11.0 |
| 2005 | 4,562 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 230 | 10.0 |
| 2014 | 9,231 | 9th lowest of 15 · 202% of median | 219 | 34.0 |
| 2015 | 13,058 | 13th lowest of 15 · 286% of median | 365 | 22.0 |
| 2016 | 13,002 | 12th lowest of 15 · 285% of median | 366 | 23.0 |
| 2017 | 13,761 | 15th lowest of 15 · 302% of median | 365 | 22.0 |
| 2018 | 13,586 | 14th lowest of 15 · 298% of median | 365 | 21.0 |
| 2019 | 11,882 | 11th lowest of 15 · 260% of median | 365 | 19.0 |
| 2020 | 11,470 | 10th lowest of 15 · 251% of median | 305 | 22.2 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is rising over its last 15 recorded years (+460 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.002).
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 | 7160 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 55% of the irrigation seasons in 1964-2024 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.