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NORTHWESTERN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4200536 · 1 · KANNAH CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 01:48 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 1884-11-01 — 12th most senior of the 726 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: KANNAH CREEK EXTENSION DITCH (1884-11-01). Immediately behind: SMITH IRRIGATING DITCH (1884-11-01).
Decreed rights (7)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12724.0 | 1884-11-01 | 1888-07-25 | 0.29 | 0.0 | C | IRR | NO.2 |
| 13007.0 | 1885-08-11 | 1888-07-25 | 4.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | NO.4 |
| 13234.0 | 1886-03-26 | 1888-07-25 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 3,7,18 |
| 13900.0 | 1888-01-21 | 1888-07-25 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | NO.9 |
| 32811.0 | 1939-11-01 | 1941-07-25 | 1.78 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 34419.13007 | 1885-08-11 | 1959-07-21 | 0.5 | 0.0 | C | DOM | |
| 38502.0 | 1955-06-01 | 1959-07-21 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Legal record & documents
10 decreed actions on record across
9 court cases:
W0368, 11CW0151, W2594, CA8303, CA5812, W0402, W0401, CA12290, CA0216.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W0368 | 1 | 1971-12-31 | S |
11CW0151 | 1 | 1971-12-31 | S |
W2594 | 1 | 1959-07-21 | S |
CA8303 | 2 | 1959-07-21 | S |
CA5812 | 1 | 1941-07-25 | S |
W0402 | 1 | 1888-07-25 | O |
W0401 | 1 | 1888-07-25 | O |
CA12290 | 1 | 1888-07-25 | O |
CA0216 | 1 | 1888-07-25 | 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 697 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 928 AF — 133% of that, and 11th 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 | 447 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 64% of median | 192 | 4.9 |
| 2011 | 1,005 | 12th lowest of 15 · 144% of median | 200 | 5.9 |
| 2012 | 542 | 5th lowest of 15 · 78% of median | 172 | 7.4 |
| 2013 | 908 | 10th lowest of 15 · 130% of median | 203 | 9.0 |
| 2014 | 851 | 9th lowest of 15 · 122% of median | 206 | 5.3 |
| 2015 | 1,112 | 14th lowest of 15 · 160% of median | 212 | 6.7 |
| 2016 | 697 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 174 | 6.6 |
| 2017 | 1,096 | 13th lowest of 15 · 157% of median | 187 | 6.8 |
| 2018 | 425 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 61% of median | 119 | 8.9 |
| 2019 | 1,252 | 15th lowest of 15 · 180% of median | 154 | 10.6 |
| 2020 | 537 | 4th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 143 | 5.9 |
| 2021 | 365 | 1st lowest of 15 · 52% of median | 154 | 5.1 |
| 2022 | 610 | 7th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 135 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 557 | 6th lowest of 15 · 80% of median | 124 | 4.8 |
| 2024 | 928 | 11th lowest of 15 · 133% of median | 154 | 5.9 |
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 | 7 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 8498 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 80% of the irrigation seasons in 1975-2024 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.