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TROWEL DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 5400583 · 1 · LITTLE SNAKE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:37 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 1886-04-16 — 9th most senior of the 724 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: DAVIDSON DITCH (1885-10-18). Immediately behind: BEELER DITCH (1886-06-10).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13255.0 | 1886-04-16 | 1894-09-22 | 5.83 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 8 |
| 19990.1327 | 1886-05-01 | 1905-09-26 | 4.6 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 8A |
| 20769.13265 | 1886-04-26 | 1907-10-01 | 4.25 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOMSTK | A8 |
| 22071.17637 | 1898-04-15 | 1910-06-11 | 6.33 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 26AA |
| 22071.17656 | 1898-05-04 | 1910-06-11 | 10.32 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 26B |
Legal record & documents
7 decreed actions on record across
6 court cases:
CA0649, 97CW0023, 18CW3028, 03CW0007, 08/27/1915, 88CW0064.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA0649 | 1 | 1910-06-11 | S |
97CW0023 | 1 | 1910-06-11 | S |
18CW3028 | 1 | 1910-06-11 | S |
03CW0007 | 2 | 1907-10-01 | S |
08/27/1915 | 1 | 1905-09-26 | S |
88CW0064 | 1 | 1894-09-22 | 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 6,669 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 6,669 AF — 100% of that, and 8th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 5,326 | 7th lowest of 15 · 80% of median | 139 | 45.0 |
| 2012 | 8,087 | 10th lowest of 15 · 121% of median | 146 | 59.9 |
| 2013 | 4,732 | 6th lowest of 15 · 71% of median | 165 | 40.0 |
| 2014 | 7,730 | 9th lowest of 15 · 116% of median | 140 | 56.2 |
| 2015 | 8,340 | 11th lowest of 15 · 125% of median | 162 | 84.3 |
| 2016 | 15,615 | 15th lowest of 15 · 234% of median | 157 | 83.7 |
| 2017 | 2,633 | 5th lowest of 15 · 40% of median | 65 | 21.1 |
| 2018 | 1,081 | 1st lowest of 15 · 16% of median | 83 | 7.3 |
| 2019 | 11,545 | 13th lowest of 15 · 173% of median | 160 | 41.2 |
| 2020 | 11,937 | 14th lowest of 15 · 179% of median | 142 | 48.8 |
| 2021 | 9,237 | 12th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 160 | 57.4 |
| 2022 | 2,611 | 4th lowest of 15 · 39% of median | 88 | 37.5 |
| 2023 | 1,475 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 22% of median | 148 | 18.0 |
| 2024 | 1,564 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 24% of median | 57 | 14.1 |
| 2025 | 6,669 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 67 | 68.1 |
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 (8/10 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 | 9587 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 53% of the irrigation seasons in 1941-2025 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.