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BLUE MESA POWER PLANT
Structure dossier · WDID 6200533 · 9 · GUNNISON RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:48 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 1957-11-13 — 597th 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: SODERQUIST RES (1956-04-01). Immediately behind: CRYSTAL POWER PLANT (1957-11-13).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39398.0 | 1957-11-13 | 1960-03-30 | 2500.0 | 0.0 | C | PWR | 448 |
| 40569.39844 | 1959-02-02 | 1965-10-28 | 1000.0 | 0.0 | C | PWR | 625 |
Legal record & documents
7 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
W0061, CA5782, CA6981, CA10045.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W0061 | 2 | 1965-10-28 | S |
CA5782 | 2 | 1965-10-28 | S |
CA6981 | 1 | 1960-03-30 | S |
CA10045 | 2 | 1960-03-30 | 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 252,441 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 243,243 AF — 96% of that, and 7th 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 | 353,307 | 15th lowest of 15 · 140% of median | 335 | 2311.3 |
| 2012 | 280,478 | 9th lowest of 15 · 111% of median | 366 | 1374.4 |
| 2013 | 122,535 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 48% of median | 306 | 1150.2 |
| 2014 | 155,861 | 5th lowest of 15 · 62% of median | 306 | 2113.0 |
| 2015 | 220,837 | 6th lowest of 15 · 88% of median | 365 | 1520.0 |
| 2016 | 105,447 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 42% of median | 366 | 711.0 |
| 2017 | 347,884 | 14th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 304 | 3493.0 |
| 2018 | 332,367 | 13th lowest of 15 · 132% of median | 365 | 1719.7 |
| 2019 | 252,441 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 365 | 2946.0 |
| 2020 | 311,452 | 12th lowest of 15 · 123% of median | 366 | 1376.0 |
| 2021 | 296,587 | 10th lowest of 15 · 118% of median | 365 | 2552.0 |
| 2022 | 98,756 | 1st lowest of 15 · 39% of median | 365 | 1401.0 |
| 2023 | 143,885 | 4th lowest of 15 · 57% of median | 365 | 2736.0 |
| 2024 | 296,799 | 11th lowest of 15 · 118% of median | 366 | 3486.0 |
| 2025 | 243,243 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 304 | 2117.0 |
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 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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 10383 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 1993-2025 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.