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SMITH DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4000941 · 1 · LEROUX CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:15 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 1883-08-11 — 60th 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: SHINDLEDECKER DITCH (COW CREEK) (1883-08-11). Immediately behind: STULL DITCH (1883-08-11).
Decreed rights (26)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12276.0 | 1883-08-11 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 3 |
| 12285.0 | 1883-08-20 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 4 |
| 12467.0 | 1884-02-18 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 6 |
| 13119.0 | 1885-12-01 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 7 |
| 13602.0 | 1887-03-29 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 8 |
| 13606.0 | 1887-04-02 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 9 |
| 13633.0 | 1887-04-29 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 10 |
| 13686.0 | 1887-06-21 | 1889-06-17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 11 |
| 14413.13606 | 1887-04-02 | 1901-04-12 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 19 |
| 19415.18778 | 1901-05-31 | 1904-02-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 41 |
| 21089.14413 | 1889-06-17 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 13 |
| 21089.15797 | 1893-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 15 |
| 21089.16527 | 1895-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 17 |
| 21089.16893 | 1896-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 18 |
| 21089.17258 | 1897-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 20 |
| 21089.17623 | 1898-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 21 |
| 21089.18353 | 1900-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 22 |
| 21089.18718 | 1901-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 23 |
| 21089.18975 | 1901-12-14 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 25 |
| 21089.19006 | 1902-01-14 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 24 |
| 21089.19083 | 1902-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 25 |
| 21089.19814 | 1904-04-01 | 1908-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 27 |
| 25807.21264 | 1908-03-21 | 1930-02-10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 53, G53 |
| 31924.11891 | 1882-07-22 | 1954-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | DOMSTK | J6 |
| 31924.12113 | 1883-03-01 | 1954-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | DOMSTK | J8 |
| 31924.12756 | 1884-12-03 | 1954-03-20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | DOMSTK | J19 |
Legal record & documents
44 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
W0778, 80CW0432, CA5091.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W0778 | 1 | 1972-12-31 | S |
80CW0432 | 1 | 1972-12-31 | S |
CA5091 | 42 | 1954-03-20 | O, 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 240 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 52 AF — 22% of that, and 2nd 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 | 285 | 9th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 117 | 4.0 |
| 2011 | 340 | 14th lowest of 15 · 142% of median | 127 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 113 | 4th lowest of 15 · 47% of median | 78 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 116 | 5th lowest of 15 · 48% of median | 70 | 1.4 |
| 2014 | 237 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 90 | 3.5 |
| 2015 | 300 | 11th lowest of 15 · 125% of median | 155 | 1.8 |
| 2016 | 285 | 9th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 111 | 2.0 |
| 2017 | 416 | 15th lowest of 15 · 173% of median | 141 | 3.7 |
| 2018 | 331 | 13th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 74 | 6.7 |
| 2019 | 221 | 6th lowest of 15 · 92% of median | 105 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | 240 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 92 | 2.6 |
| 2021 | 112 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 47% of median | 80 | 1.2 |
| 2022 | 304 | 12th lowest of 15 · 127% of median | 148 | 2.5 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 9 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 52 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 22% of median | 63 | 0.4 |
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 (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 | 26 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 3819 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 33% of the irrigation seasons in 1970-2024 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.