Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
DESERT DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4000795 · 1 · GUNNISON RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:36 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 1925-05-15 — 1678th 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: CASTLE ROCK RESERVOIR (1925-05-01). Immediately behind: BEUTEN DITCH NO 3 (1925-06-01).
Decreed rights (1)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29260.27528 | 1925-05-15 | 1937-05-28 | 6.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | H136 |
Legal record & documents
3 decreed actions on record across
1 court case:
CA2563.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA2563 | 3 | 1937-05-28 | 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 194 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 194 AF — 100% of that, and 8th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 161 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 83% of median | 165 | 0.5 |
| 1993 | 148 | 1st lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 154 | 0.5 |
| 1994 | 185 | 6th lowest of 15 · 95% of median | 192 | 0.5 |
| 1995 | 187 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 196 | 0.5 |
| 1996 | 180 | 5th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 186 | 0.5 |
| 1997 | 161 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 83% of median | 165 | 0.5 |
| 1998 | 178 | 4th lowest of 15 · 92% of median | 179 | 0.5 |
| 1999 | 1,055 | 13th lowest of 15 · 544% of median | 243 | 3.0 |
| 2000 | 1,737 | 15th lowest of 15 · 895% of median | 305 | 6.0 |
| 2001 | 1,105 | 14th lowest of 15 · 570% of median | 286 | 3.5 |
| 2002 | 766 | 10th lowest of 15 · 395% of median | 291 | 2.0 |
| 2003 | 777 | 11th lowest of 15 · 400% of median | 337 | 2.0 |
| 2004 | 793 | 12th lowest of 15 · 409% of median | 299 | 3.0 |
| 2005 | 307 | 9th lowest of 15 · 158% of median | 224 | 2.0 |
| 2024 | 194 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 99 | 1.0 |
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 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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 6059 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 55% of the irrigation seasons in 1973-2024 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.