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MEDICINE BOW DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4700768 · 1 · CANADIAN RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 20:28 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 1893-09-21 — 268th 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: DWINELL DITCH (1893-09-21). Immediately behind: STILLWATER DITCH (1894-05-10).
Decreed rights (1)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15970.0 | 1893-09-21 | 1902-04-23 | 33.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 265(254) |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 795 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 789 AF — 99% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 795 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 47 | 12.0 |
| 2009 | 1,164 | 10th lowest of 15 · 146% of median | 46 | 18.0 |
| 2010 | 2,442 | 14th lowest of 15 · 307% of median | 55 | 32.0 |
| 2012 | 1,606 | 12th lowest of 15 · 202% of median | 65 | 15.2 |
| 2013 | 177 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 22% of median | 16 | 6.9 |
| 2014 | 1,354 | 11th lowest of 15 · 170% of median | 77 | 11.4 |
| 2015 | 1,100 | 9th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 75 | 14.9 |
| 2016 | 260 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 33% of median | 29 | 5.2 |
| 2017 | 359 | 4th lowest of 15 · 45% of median | 45 | 4.3 |
| 2018 | 1,846 | 13th lowest of 15 · 232% of median | 75 | 17.5 |
| 2019 | 556 | 6th lowest of 15 · 70% of median | 81 | 5.2 |
| 2020 | 3,103 | 15th lowest of 15 · 390% of median | 147 | 12.1 |
| 2021 | 452 | 5th lowest of 15 · 57% of median | 57 | 8.5 |
| 2022 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 789 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 97 | 7.2 |
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.