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SHORT DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4001196 · 1 · NORTH FORK GUNNISON RIVE · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:13 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 1889-11-18 — 177th 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: WADE AND HIGHTOWER DITCH (1889-07-01). Immediately behind: LENNOX DITCH-HARRIS ALT DIVERSION (1884-05-05).
Decreed rights (6)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14567.0 | 1889-11-18 | 1901-04-12 | 10.5 | 0.0 | C | IRRAUG | 23 |
| 19415.14567 | 1889-11-18 | 1904-02-20 | 2.2 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 23 |
| 19415.18718 | 1901-04-01 | 1904-02-20 | 6.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 40 |
| 19415.19083 | 1902-04-01 | 1904-02-20 | 4.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 42 |
| 19448.0 | 1903-04-01 | 1904-02-20 | 2.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 43 |
| 25807.19783 | 1904-03-01 | 1930-02-10 | 17.3 | 0.0 | C | IRR | G39 |
Legal record & documents
8 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
CA2030, CA0346, CA0228, 04CW0136.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA2030 | 1 | 1930-02-10 | S |
CA0346 | 4 | 1904-02-20 | S |
CA0228 | 1 | 1901-04-12 | S |
04CW0136 | 2 | 1901-04-12 | 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 7,886 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 9,541 AF — 121% of that, and 15th 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 | 7,453 | 5th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | 193 | 26.0 |
| 2011 | 7,888 | 9th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 163 | 28.8 |
| 2012 | 6,910 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 201 | 27.8 |
| 2013 | 7,564 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 241 | 28.0 |
| 2014 | 8,117 | 12th lowest of 15 · 103% of median | 298 | 24.8 |
| 2015 | 7,347 | 4th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 266 | 22.5 |
| 2016 | 7,547 | 6th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 295 | 26.8 |
| 2017 | 6,747 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 262 | 25.1 |
| 2018 | 8,073 | 10th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 365 | 31.0 |
| 2019 | 6,665 | 1st lowest of 15 · 84% of median | 256 | 26.0 |
| 2020 | 7,886 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 347 | 29.7 |
| 2021 | 8,077 | 11th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 304 | 27.8 |
| 2022 | 8,459 | 13th lowest of 15 · 107% of median | 276 | 28.8 |
| 2023 | 8,794 | 14th lowest of 15 · 112% of median | 185 | 29.2 |
| 2024 | 9,541 | 15th lowest of 15 · 121% of median | 188 | 28.8 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is rising over its last 15 recorded years (+106 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.038).
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 | 6 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 10967 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 94% 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.