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MILL CREEK DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 5801085 · 1 · MILL CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 01:25 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 1895-10-17 — 229th 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: SCHAFFNIT DITCH (1895-09-01). Immediately behind: SAND CREEK DITCH (1895-11-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18529.16726 | 1895-10-17 | 1901-09-16 | 4.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOM | 134 |
| 39254.33007 | 1940-05-15 | 1964-03-30 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 16A |
| 40753.0 | 1961-07-30 | 1964-03-30 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 53 |
| 53325.16726 | 1895-10-17 | 1996-12-31 | 5.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRSTK | |
| 53325.52864 | 1994-09-26 | 1996-12-31 | 2.0 | 0.0 | C | STO |
Legal record & documents
5 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
96CW0097, 96CW0096, CA3538, 09/16/1901.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
96CW0097 | 1 | 1996-12-31 | S |
96CW0096 | 1 | 1996-12-31 | S |
CA3538 | 2 | 1964-03-30 | S |
09/16/1901 | 1 | 1901-09-16 | 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 637 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 637 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 | 928 | 15th lowest of 15 · 146% of median | 64 | 9.0 |
| 2012 | 584 | 7th lowest of 15 · 92% of median | 175 | 4.0 |
| 2013 | 407 | 1st lowest of 15 · 64% of median | 165 | 3.6 |
| 2014 | 575 | 6th lowest of 15 · 90% of median | 60 | 7.5 |
| 2015 | 796 | 11th lowest of 15 · 125% of median | 180 | 8.9 |
| 2016 | 807 | 12th lowest of 15 · 127% of median | 175 | 8.0 |
| 2017 | 781 | 10th lowest of 15 · 123% of median | 90 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 478 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 75% of median | 79 | 4.7 |
| 2019 | 557 | 5th lowest of 15 · 87% of median | 79 | 4.4 |
| 2020 | 440 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 69% of median | 118 | 3.8 |
| 2021 | 706 | 9th lowest of 15 · 111% of median | 115 | 9.5 |
| 2022 | 824 | 13th lowest of 15 · 129% of median | 165 | 9.5 |
| 2023 | 853 | 14th lowest of 15 · 134% of median | 164 | 7.4 |
| 2024 | 544 | 4th lowest of 15 · 85% of median | 82 | 7.3 |
| 2025 | 637 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 122 | 8.0 |
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 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 | 8498 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 45% of the irrigation seasons in 1938-2025 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.