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MICHIGAN HIGHLINE DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4700773 · 1 · MICHIGAN RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 03:50 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 1886-05-31 — 81st 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: CHAPMAN DITCH (1886-05-31). Immediately behind: PIONEER DITCH (1886-05-31).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13300.0 | 1886-05-31 | 1892-09-19 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 55(53) |
| 13665.0 | 1887-05-31 | 1892-09-19 | 1.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 92(85) |
| 14418.0 | 1889-06-22 | 1892-09-19 | 5.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 199(179) |
| 14730.0 | 1890-04-30 | 1892-09-19 | 8.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 215(194) |
| 22468.0 | 1911-07-08 | 1913-01-06 | 11.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 370 |
Legal record & documents
5 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
CA2891, CA0922.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA2891 | 1 | 1913-01-06 | S |
CA0922 | 4 | 1892-09-19 | 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 1,966 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 2,105 AF — 107% of that, and 9th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,966 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 100 | 20.0 |
| 2012 | 877 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 45% of median | 72 | 16.0 |
| 2013 | 2,487 | 13th lowest of 15 · 126% of median | 58 | 38.1 |
| 2014 | 854 | 1st lowest of 15 · 43% of median | 67 | 20.0 |
| 2015 | 2,294 | 11th lowest of 15 · 117% of median | 114 | 32.6 |
| 2016 | 2,198 | 10th lowest of 15 · 112% of median | 93 | 29.6 |
| 2017 | 2,576 | 14th lowest of 15 · 131% of median | 106 | 36.1 |
| 2018 | 1,011 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 51% of median | 77 | 18.8 |
| 2019 | 1,722 | 7th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 104 | 19.7 |
| 2020 | 2,410 | 12th lowest of 15 · 123% of median | 99 | 30.3 |
| 2021 | 1,384 | 5th lowest of 15 · 70% of median | 102 | 15.7 |
| 2022 | 4,132 | 15th lowest of 15 · 210% of median | 126 | 26.7 |
| 2023 | 1,446 | 6th lowest of 15 · 74% of median | 97 | 34.1 |
| 2024 | 1,169 | 4th lowest of 15 · 60% of median | 31 | 20.3 |
| 2025 | 2,105 | 9th lowest of 15 · 107% of median | 128 | 27.8 |
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 | 5 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 4853 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 31% of the irrigation seasons in 1953-2025 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.