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LITTLE GEM RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 4003321 · 3 · WARD CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 02:51 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 1903-08-20 — 1554th 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: TRIO RESERVOIR (1903-07-30). Immediately behind: LONE PINE RESERVOIR (1904-04-01).
Decreed rights (3)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29260.19589 | 1903-08-20 | 1937-05-28 | 200.0 | 0.0 | A | IRR | H19 |
| 35672.0 | 1947-09-01 | 1954-03-20 | 19.0 | 0.0 | A | IRR | J290 |
| 58074.45708 | 1975-02-22 | 2009-12-31 | 182.5 | 0.0 | A | MUN |
Legal record & documents
6 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
09CW0139, CA3503, 91CW0123, CA2563.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
09CW0139 | 1 | 2009-12-31 | S |
CA3503 | 1 | 1954-03-20 | S |
91CW0123 | 1 | 1954-03-20 | S |
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)
This structure records both diversions and reservoir releases — they are separate water movements and are accounted separately below.
| 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 | Released (AF) | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | — | no recorded volume | 79 | 0 | — |
| 2007 | — | no recorded volume | 97 | 0 | — |
| 2008 | — | no recorded volume | 111 | 0 | — |
| 2009 | — | no recorded volume | 30 | 0 | — |
| 2010 | — | no recorded volume | 30 | 0 | — |
| 2012 | — | no recorded volume | 30 | 0 | — |
| 2016 | — | no recorded volume | 70 | 0 | — |
| 2017 | — | no recorded volume | 127 | 0 | — |
| 2018 | — | no recorded volume | 180 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | — | no recorded volume | 123 | 0 | — |
| 2020 | — | no recorded volume | 53 | 0 | — |
| 2021 | — | no recorded volume | 294 | 0 | — |
| 2022 | — | no recorded volume | 833 | 0 | — |
| 2023 | — | no recorded volume | 122 | 0 | — |
| 2024 | — | no recorded volume | 137 | 0 | — |
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 | 3 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 1198 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 10% 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.