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RAY DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 6100527 · 1 · WEST PARADOX CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:34 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 1909-04-02 — 27th most senior of the 166 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: ENTERPRISE DITCH (1909-04-02). Immediately behind: LOWER SWAIN DITCH (1909-04-02).
Decreed rights (4)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22366.21641 | 1909-04-02 | 1926-01-19 | 2.83 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 23 |
| 22366.2236 | 1911-03-22 | 1926-01-19 | 22.17 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 34 |
| 46386.39081 | 1956-12-31 | 1977-12-31 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | DOM | |
| 46427.0 | 1977-02-10 | 1977-12-31 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | DOM |
Legal record & documents
4 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
W3038, CA3261.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W3038 | 2 | 1977-12-31 | S |
CA3261 | 2 | 1926-01-19 | 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 1,023 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 873 AF — 85% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2,080 | 14th lowest of 15 · 203% of median | 218 | 12.5 |
| 2012 | 954 | 7th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 196 | 4.8 |
| 2013 | 783 | 4th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 200 | 3.3 |
| 2014 | 1,106 | 9th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | 201 | 5.1 |
| 2015 | 1,023 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 200 | 4.2 |
| 2016 | 1,540 | 11th lowest of 15 · 150% of median | 198 | 7.5 |
| 2017 | 1,786 | 12th lowest of 15 · 175% of median | 205 | 8.9 |
| 2018 | 762 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 74% of median | 175 | 4.8 |
| 2019 | 2,443 | 15th lowest of 15 · 239% of median | 210 | 10.9 |
| 2020 | 814 | 5th lowest of 15 · 80% of median | 206 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 533 | 1st lowest of 15 · 52% of median | 202 | 4.3 |
| 2022 | 669 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 65% of median | 214 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 2,003 | 13th lowest of 15 · 196% of median | 211 | 10.6 |
| 2024 | 1,216 | 10th lowest of 15 · 119% of median | 214 | 4.1 |
| 2025 | 873 | 6th lowest of 15 · 85% of median | 212 | 4.9 |
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 | 4 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 22314 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1934-2025 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.