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SMITHS BROWN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 4800513 · 1 · LARAMIE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 20:59 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 1884-06-10 — 15th most senior of the 143 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: JIMMY CREEK DITCH (1884-06-01). Immediately behind: TROLLOPE CREEK DITCH (1884-06-15).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12580.0 | 1884-06-10 | 1896-10-30 | 16.63 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 215 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 204 AF — 95% of that, and 6th 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 | 225 | 10th lowest of 15 · 105% of median | 73 | 6.1 |
| 2011 | 213 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 61 | 6.1 |
| 2012 | 215 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 56 | 6.1 |
| 2013 | 199 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 58 | 6.1 |
| 2014 | 202 | 5th lowest of 15 · 94% of median | 60 | 6.1 |
| 2015 | 199 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 58 | 6.1 |
| 2016 | 196 | 1st lowest of 15 · 91% of median | 59 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 199 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 52 | 5.2 |
| 2018 | 223 | 9th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 43 | 14.0 |
| 2019 | 228 | 11th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 48 | 5.0 |
| 2020 | 644 | 14th lowest of 15 · 300% of median | 51 | 14.5 |
| 2021 | 309 | 12th lowest of 15 · 144% of median | 58 | 8.9 |
| 2022 | 499 | 13th lowest of 15 · 232% of median | 55 | 10.0 |
| 2023 | 1,944 | 15th lowest of 15 · 904% of median | 71 | 27.3 |
| 2024 | 204 | 6th lowest of 15 · 95% of median | 47 | 3.8 |
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.