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METZ DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4300816 · 1 · PICEANCE CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:51 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 1884-12-02 — 20th 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: WILLOW CREEK DITCH NO 3 (1884-09-29). Immediately behind: SQUARE S CONS D SYS (1884-12-03).
Decreed rights (2)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12755.0 | 1884-12-02 | 1890-10-22 | 1.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 16A |
| 14076.0 | 1888-07-15 | 1889-05-10 | 0.6 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 106 |
Legal record & documents
2 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
10/22/1890, CA0133.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
10/22/1890 | 1 | 1890-10-22 | O |
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 375 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 216 AF — 58% of that, and 2nd 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 | 707 | 13th lowest of 15 · 188% of median | 86 | 5.6 |
| 2012 | 735 | 14th lowest of 15 · 196% of median | 170 | 3.5 |
| 2013 | 582 | 12th lowest of 15 · 155% of median | 153 | 3.8 |
| 2014 | 397 | 9th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 136 | 2.2 |
| 2015 | 428 | 10th lowest of 15 · 114% of median | 106 | 2.8 |
| 2016 | 312 | 5th lowest of 15 · 83% of median | 114 | 1.8 |
| 2017 | 159 | 1st lowest of 15 · 42% of median | 120 | 1.6 |
| 2018 | 375 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 140 | 3.1 |
| 2019 | 221 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 59% of median | 51 | 2.7 |
| 2020 | 352 | 6th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | 168 | 1.7 |
| 2021 | 352 | 6th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | 139 | 1.9 |
| 2022 | 281 | 4th lowest of 15 · 75% of median | 121 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 789 | 15th lowest of 15 · 210% of median | 154 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 540 | 11th lowest of 15 · 144% of median | 151 | 3.4 |
| 2025 | 216 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 58% of median | 102 | 2.1 |
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 B (8/10 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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 11286 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 70% 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.