Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
HARDSCRABBLE DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 5800676 · 1 · WATSON CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 19:54 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 in line
Priority 1885-06-17 — 24th most senior of the 3097 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: MEADOW INDUSTRIES WELL (1885-06-14). Immediately behind: KELLER DITCH (1885-10-01).
Decreed rights (2)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12952.0 | 1885-06-17 | 1892-09-22 | 0.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 16 |
| 33782.25353 | 1919-06-01 | 1946-09-14 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 320-B |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 35 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 72 AF — 206% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 85 | 11th lowest of 15 · 243% of median | 73 | 1.0 |
| 1989 | 105 | 12th lowest of 15 · 300% of median | 98 | 1.0 |
| 1990 | 19 | 6th lowest of 15 · 54% of median | 40 | 0.2 |
| 2000 | 6 | 4th lowest of 15 · 17% of median | 4 | 1.0 |
| 2010 | 16 | 5th lowest of 15 · 46% of median | 25 | 0.5 |
| 2014 | 34 | 7th lowest of 15 · 97% of median | 32 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 56 | 0.0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 5 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2020 | 35 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 50 | 1.2 |
| 2021 | 208 | 15th lowest of 15 · 594% of median | 95 | 1.6 |
| 2022 | 162 | 13th lowest of 15 · 463% of median | 61 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 184 | 14th lowest of 15 · 526% of median | 66 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 76 | 10th lowest of 15 · 217% of median | 55 | 1.5 |
| 2025 | 72 | 9th lowest of 15 · 206% of median | 51 | 1.1 |
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.