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VAIL IRRIGATION SYSTEM HEADGATE NO 1
Structure dossier · WDID 5101231 · 1 · MEADOW CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:40 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 1909-09-22 — 255th most senior of the 2208 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: VAIL IRRIGATION SYSTEM HEADGATE NO 2 (1909-09-22). Immediately behind: ANDERSON DITCH (1909-11-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21814.0 | 1909-09-22 | 1911-08-03 | 65.94 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 261 |
Legal record & documents
4 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
CA0259, CA0183, 91CW0094, 84CW0218.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA0259 | 1 | 1911-08-03 | S |
CA0183 | 1 | 1911-08-03 | S |
91CW0094 | 1 | 1911-08-03 | S |
84CW0218 | 1 | 1911-08-03 | 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 3,171 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 3,376 AF — 106% of that, and 14th 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 | 3,171 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 365 | 43.4 |
| 2011 | 3,279 | 10th lowest of 15 · 103% of median | 304 | 45.0 |
| 2012 | 1,994 | 1st lowest of 15 · 63% of median | 122 | 21.0 |
| 2013 | 3,358 | 12th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 128 | 37.0 |
| 2014 | 2,797 | 5th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 121 | 43.5 |
| 2015 | 3,840 | 15th lowest of 15 · 121% of median | 121 | 50.0 |
| 2016 | 3,360 | 13th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 128 | 55.0 |
| 2017 | 3,163 | 7th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 127 | 37.0 |
| 2018 | 2,712 | 4th lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 143 | 32.0 |
| 2019 | 3,174 | 9th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 153 | 30.0 |
| 2020 | 2,658 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 84% of median | 167 | 27.0 |
| 2021 | 2,598 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 82% of median | 122 | 23.3 |
| 2022 | 2,825 | 6th lowest of 15 · 89% of median | 124 | 32.0 |
| 2023 | 3,308 | 11th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 138 | 36.0 |
| 2024 | 3,376 | 14th lowest of 15 · 106% of median | 154 | 33.0 |
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 A (9/10 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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 7280 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 86% of the irrigation seasons in 1985-2024 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.