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NEEDLE ROCK DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4000501 · 1 · SMITH FORK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 01:26 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 1887-12-20 — 160th most senior of the 4661 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: DAISY DITCH (1887-10-11). Immediately behind: SANTA FE DITCH (1887-12-29).
Decreed rights (14)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13868.0 | 1887-12-20 | 1889-06-17 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 5 |
| 14077.0 | 1888-07-16 | 1889-06-17 | 4.2 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 8 |
| 19413.1399 | 1888-04-20 | 1903-02-27 | 6.281 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 14 |
| 19413.16527 | 1895-04-01 | 1903-02-27 | 1.651 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 28 |
| 19413.16893 | 1896-04-01 | 1903-02-27 | 0.563 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 32 |
| 19413.17258 | 1897-04-01 | 1903-02-27 | 2.906 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 33 |
| 19413.17623 | 1898-04-01 | 1903-02-27 | 0.563 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 35 |
| 19413.18353 | 1900-04-01 | 1903-02-27 | 0.881 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 39 |
| 25807.19417 | 1903-03-01 | 1930-02-10 | 21.37 | 0.0 | C | IRR | G36 |
| 31924.13863 | 1887-12-15 | 1954-03-20 | 4.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOMSTK | J29, J30 |
| 31924.14076 | 1888-07-15 | 1954-03-20 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | DOMSTK | J33 |
| 31924.28984 | 1929-05-10 | 1954-03-20 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | J192 |
| 31924.2926 | 1930-02-10 | 1954-03-20 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | J194 |
| 41410.0 | 1963-05-18 | 2005-12-31 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRSTK |
Legal record & documents
19 decreed actions on record across
8 court cases:
05CW0109, CA3503, 75CW0195, 20CW0014, CA2030, CA0340, CA0038, 75CW0111.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
05CW0109 | 1 | 2005-12-31 | O |
CA3503 | 3 | 1954-03-20 | S |
75CW0195 | 1 | 1954-03-20 | S |
20CW0014 | 4 | 1954-03-20 | O, S |
CA2030 | 1 | 1930-02-10 | S |
CA0340 | 6 | 1903-02-27 | S |
CA0038 | 2 | 1889-06-17 | O |
75CW0111 | 1 | 1889-06-17 | 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 6,619 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 5,117 AF — 77% of that, and 5th 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 | 6,874 | 9th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 362 | 46.0 |
| 2011 | 8,146 | 13th lowest of 15 · 123% of median | 365 | 44.0 |
| 2012 | 5,081 | 4th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 347 | 25.2 |
| 2013 | 5,714 | 7th lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 359 | 42.0 |
| 2014 | 7,793 | 12th lowest of 15 · 118% of median | 357 | 39.7 |
| 2015 | 8,426 | 14th lowest of 15 · 127% of median | 353 | 42.0 |
| 2016 | 7,505 | 11th lowest of 15 · 113% of median | 335 | 42.0 |
| 2017 | 10,567 | 15th lowest of 15 · 160% of median | 357 | 61.3 |
| 2018 | 3,632 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 55% of median | 329 | 31.6 |
| 2019 | 7,489 | 10th lowest of 15 · 113% of median | 248 | 46.6 |
| 2020 | 4,746 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 72% of median | 366 | 35.1 |
| 2021 | 3,306 | 1st lowest of 15 · 50% of median | 365 | 21.7 |
| 2022 | 5,235 | 6th lowest of 15 · 79% of median | 365 | 42.0 |
| 2023 | 6,619 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 300 | 41.0 |
| 2024 | 5,117 | 5th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 192 | 47.5 |
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 A (9/10 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 | 14 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 16242 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1969-2024 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.