Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
HOWARD DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4700672 · 1 · WILLOW CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 20:30 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.
Which of its rights get called out?
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 1888-05-25 — 159th most senior of the 1262 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: COL DAVIS DITCH (1888-05-25). Immediately behind: BUTLER DITCH (1888-05-25).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14025.0 | 1888-05-25 | 1892-09-19 | 8.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 128(118) |
| 17302.0 | 1897-05-15 | 1902-04-23 | 12.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 283(271) |
| 22188.0 | 1910-10-01 | 1913-01-06 | 75.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 364 |
| 49102.0 | 1984-06-08 | 1984-12-31 | 11.0 | 59.0 | C | STOIRRRECFISWLD | |
| 50403.32768 | 1939-09-19 | 1988-12-31 | 30.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 3,966 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 635 AF — 16% of that, and 3rd 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 | 6,436 | 12th lowest of 15 · 162% of median | 77 | 61.2 |
| 2010 | 7,243 | 14th lowest of 15 · 183% of median | 78 | 62.6 |
| 2011 | 4,043 | 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 46 | 67.9 |
| 2012 | 4,841 | 10th lowest of 15 · 122% of median | 270 | 22.0 |
| 2013 | 5,786 | 11th lowest of 15 · 146% of median | 96 | 61.2 |
| 2014 | 6,819 | 13th lowest of 15 · 172% of median | 116 | 46.3 |
| 2015 | 3,778 | 7th lowest of 15 · 95% of median | 58 | 42.9 |
| 2016 | 3,642 | 6th lowest of 15 · 92% of median | 126 | 30.0 |
| 2017 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2018 | 1,953 | 5th lowest of 15 · 49% of median | 77 | 34.6 |
| 2019 | 8,817 | 15th lowest of 15 · 222% of median | 120 | 67.0 |
| 2020 | 3,966 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 78 | 44.3 |
| 2021 | 1,922 | 4th lowest of 15 · 48% of median | 115 | 19.7 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 635 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 16% of median | 41 | 8.0 |
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.