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HIGHLAND DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4300694 · 1 · WHITE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:02 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (a1c9146) — 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 1886-05-01 — 45th most senior of the 3293 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: LITTLE DITCH (1886-04-05). Immediately behind: SAWYER DITCH (1886-05-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13270.0 | 1886-05-01 | 1889-05-10 | 45.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 35 |
| 26896.16557 | 1895-05-01 | 1923-08-31 | 9.1 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 264 |
| 32172.16923 | 1896-05-01 | 1942-05-26 | 48.2 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 370 |
| 39776.38837 | 1956-05-01 | 1966-11-21 | 33.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOM | 654 |
| 40791.0 | 1961-09-06 | 1966-11-21 | 61.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRINDDOM | 701, 702 |
| 41954.0 | 1964-11-12 | 1966-11-21 | 2.6 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNINDRECDOMSTK | 754 |
| 46020.4322 | 1968-05-01 | 1976-12-31 | 50.1 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Legal record & documents
22 decreed actions on record across
12 court cases:
87CW0207, W3263-76, W0170-72, CA1269, 89CW0131, 88CW0166, CA1319, 88CW0358, CA0624, CA0369 and 2 more below.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
87CW0207 | 2 | 1987-12-31 | S |
W3263-76 | 1 | 1976-12-31 | S |
W0170-72 | 2 | 1966-11-21 | S |
CA1269 | 4 | 1966-11-21 | S |
89CW0131 | 1 | 1966-11-21 | S |
88CW0166 | 1 | 1966-11-21 | S |
CA1319 | 3 | 1947-09-08 | S |
88CW0358 | 3 | 1947-09-08 | S |
CA0624 | 1 | 1942-05-26 | S |
CA0369 | 2 | 1923-08-31 | S |
84CW0219 | 1 | 1923-08-31 | S |
CA0133 | 1 | 1889-05-10 | 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 33,830 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 35,084 AF — 104% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 35,338 | 12th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 365 | 209.5 |
| 2012 | 40,294 | 14th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 363 | 201.0 |
| 2013 | 34,018 | 9th lowest of 15 · 101% of median | 334 | 212.0 |
| 2014 | 59,157 | 15th lowest of 15 · 175% of median | 339 | 192.9 |
| 2015 | 25,983 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 311 | 170.8 |
| 2016 | 27,600 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 328 | 185.2 |
| 2017 | 27,646 | 4th lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 334 | 162.9 |
| 2018 | 36,265 | 13th lowest of 15 · 107% of median | 365 | 193.0 |
| 2019 | 33,402 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 365 | 185.0 |
| 2020 | 35,044 | 10th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 366 | 181.6 |
| 2021 | 33,830 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 304 | 188.4 |
| 2022 | 18,658 | 1st lowest of 15 · 55% of median | 135 | 108.1 |
| 2023 | 31,008 | 6th lowest of 15 · 92% of median | 334 | 175.0 |
| 2024 | 29,112 | 5th lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 233 | 171.7 |
| 2025 | 35,084 | 11th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 289 | 165.2 |
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 | 17602 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1950-2025 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.