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BIG WILLOW SPRINGS D
Structure dossier · WDID 6200530 · 1 · WILLOW CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:10 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 1904-05-01 — 175th most senior of the 1980 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: CRAIG DITCH - PUMP STATION (1902-08-01). Immediately behind: PINE CREEK DITCH (1904-05-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20393.19844 | 1904-05-01 | 1913-05-08 | 5.99 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 120 |
Legal record & documents
1 decreed actions on record across
1 court case:
CA1745.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA1745 | 1 | 1913-05-08 | 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 173 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 122 AF — 70% of that, and 7th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
This structure records both diversions and reservoir releases — they are separate water movements and are accounted separately below.
| 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 | Released (AF) | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 472 | 15th lowest of 15 · 273% of median | — | 168 | 2.8 |
| 2005 | 369 | 12th lowest of 15 · 213% of median | — | 144 | 4.8 |
| 2006 | 177 | 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | — | 49 | 2.8 |
| 2007 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | — | 6 | 0.0 |
| 2008 | 16 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 9% of median | — | 20 | 0.6 |
| 2009 | 211 | 10th lowest of 15 · 122% of median | — | 99 | 2.1 |
| 2010 | 432 | 14th lowest of 15 · 250% of median | — | 135 | 3.8 |
| 2011 | 365 | 11th lowest of 15 · 211% of median | — | 158 | 2.2 |
| 2012 | 173 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | — | 132 | 0.8 |
| 2013 | 395 | 13th lowest of 15 · 228% of median | — | 144 | 1.7 |
| 2017 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| 2022 | 46 | 4th lowest of 15 · 27% of median | — | 99 | 0.3 |
| 2023 | 88 | 5th lowest of 15 · 51% of median | 0 | 125 | 0.8 |
| 2024 | 107 | 6th lowest of 15 · 62% of median | — | 141 | 0.7 |
| 2025 | 122 | 7th lowest of 15 · 70% of median | — | 157 | 0.5 |
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 (7/10 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 | 2840 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 26% of the irrigation seasons in 1974-2025 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.