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MELVIN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4300813 · 1 · FLAG CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 21:03 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 1886-08-22 — 58th 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: HAY DITCH (1886-08-01). Immediately behind: HOWARD DITCH (1886-09-02).
Decreed rights (5)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13383.0 | 1886-08-22 | 1889-05-10 | 0.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 47 |
| 14000.0 | 1888-04-30 | 1889-05-10 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 92 |
| 16723.0 | 1895-10-14 | 1910-09-06 | 2.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 52 |
| 32172.23484 | 1914-04-19 | 1942-05-26 | 2.93 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 453 |
| 32172.23496 | 1914-05-01 | 1942-05-26 | 11.49 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 455A |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 397 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 340 AF — 86% of that, and 7th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 548 | 12th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 120 | 9.5 |
| 2010 | 691 | 15th lowest of 15 · 174% of median | 145 | 6.0 |
| 2011 | 541 | 11th lowest of 15 · 136% of median | 86 | 10.0 |
| 2012 | 256 | 6th lowest of 15 · 64% of median | 111 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 107 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 27% of median | 67 | 2.0 |
| 2014 | 486 | 10th lowest of 15 · 122% of median | 165 | 3.0 |
| 2015 | 135 | 4th lowest of 15 · 34% of median | 57 | 2.5 |
| 2016 | 552 | 13th lowest of 15 · 139% of median | 97 | 5.2 |
| 2017 | 397 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 68 | 4.0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2021 | 197 | 5th lowest of 15 · 50% of median | 158 | 1.5 |
| 2023 | 574 | 14th lowest of 15 · 145% of median | 102 | 5.3 |
| 2024 | 446 | 9th lowest of 15 · 112% of median | 148 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 340 | 7th lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 159 | 1.5 |
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.