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FRENCH DITCH NO 3
Structure dossier · WDID 6200609 · 1 · LAKE FORK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 20:45 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.
Which of its rights get called out?
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 1901-05-01 — 236th 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: FRENCH DITCH NO 2 (1901-05-01). Immediately behind: INDEPENDENCE IRR DITCH (1902-03-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27585.18748 | 1901-05-01 | 1941-04-21 | 2.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 233 |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 81 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 5 AF — 6% of that, and 2nd 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 54 | 4th lowest of 15 · 67% of median | 167 | 0.2 |
| 2011 | 166 | 14th lowest of 15 · 205% of median | 168 | 1.6 |
| 2012 | 138 | 12th lowest of 15 · 170% of median | 185 | 0.7 |
| 2013 | 75 | 6th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 147 | 0.7 |
| 2014 | 159 | 13th lowest of 15 · 196% of median | 147 | 1.8 |
| 2015 | 36 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 44% of median | 55 | 0.6 |
| 2017 | 69 | 5th lowest of 15 · 85% of median | 71 | 1.1 |
| 2018 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 4 | 0.0 |
| 2019 | 180 | 15th lowest of 15 · 222% of median | 121 | 1.5 |
| 2020 | 94 | 10th lowest of 15 · 116% of median | 105 | 0.5 |
| 2021 | 93 | 9th lowest of 15 · 115% of median | 76 | 1.1 |
| 2022 | 78 | 7th lowest of 15 · 96% of median | 107 | 0.6 |
| 2023 | 81 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 146 | 1.0 |
| 2024 | 118 | 11th lowest of 15 · 146% of median | 184 | 0.7 |
| 2025 | 5 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 6% of median | 51 | 0.1 |
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.