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LEE DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4500670 · 1 · PORCUPINE CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:58 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 1886-07-07 — 55th most senior of the 1378 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: MOCKING BIRD DITCH (1886-06-02). Immediately behind: YOUNG MACKAY & OCONNOR D (1886-07-07).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13337.0 | 1886-07-07 | 1888-05-05 | 2.4 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 14717.13028 | 1885-09-01 | 1890-04-18 | 1.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 20937.20896 | 1907-03-19 | 1907-05-27 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 142 |
Legal record & documents
7 decreed actions on record across
5 court cases:
W2930, 84CW0281, W3154, CA1240, CA2834.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W2930 | 1 | 1976-12-31 | S |
84CW0281 | 1 | 1976-12-31 | S |
W3154 | 1 | 1907-05-27 | S |
CA1240 | 2 | 1907-05-27 | S |
CA2834 | 2 | 1890-04-18 | O, 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)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 214 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2018, came in at 163 AF — 76% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 1,185 | 15th lowest of 15 · 554% of median | 230 | 6.4 |
| 1998 | 378 | 12th lowest of 15 · 177% of median | 142 | 4.3 |
| 1999 | 131 | 6th lowest of 15 · 61% of median | 70 | 1.0 |
| 2000 | 230 | 9th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | 65 | 2.1 |
| 2001 | 110 | 5th lowest of 15 · 51% of median | 32 | 2.1 |
| 2002 | 26 | 1st lowest of 15 · 12% of median | 17 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | 105 | 4th lowest of 15 · 49% of median | 55 | 1.0 |
| 2004 | 67 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 31% of median | 46 | 0.8 |
| 2005 | 214 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 48 | 2.8 |
| 2006 | 381 | 13th lowest of 15 · 178% of median | 67 | 4.0 |
| 2007 | 287 | 11th lowest of 15 · 134% of median | 69 | 2.7 |
| 2008 | 430 | 14th lowest of 15 · 201% of median | 112 | 5.4 |
| 2009 | 240 | 10th lowest of 15 · 112% of median | 102 | 2.0 |
| 2010 | 94 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 44% of median | 54 | 1.0 |
| 2018 | 163 | 7th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 46 | 2.4 |
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 (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 | 1419 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 21% of the irrigation seasons in 1987-2018 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.