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UPPER OWL CREEK DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 6801387 · 1 · COW CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 20:30 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 1884-05-20 — 112th most senior of the 1293 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: STEALEY OWL CREEK DITCH (1884-05-20). Immediately behind: BURGER DITCH (1884-06-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12559.0 | 1884-05-20 | 1897-05-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 86 |
| 29554.12559 | 1884-05-20 | 1942-05-11 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 34 |
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 297 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 19 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 297 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 152 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 343 | 11th lowest of 15 · 116% of median | 180 | 2.9 |
| 2013 | 310 | 9th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 216 | 1.7 |
| 2014 | 408 | 12th lowest of 15 · 137% of median | 297 | 3.3 |
| 2015 | 440 | 13th lowest of 15 · 148% of median | 207 | 4.0 |
| 2016 | 529 | 14th lowest of 15 · 178% of median | 147 | 3.5 |
| 2017 | 36 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 12% of median | 24 | 1.3 |
| 2018 | 10 | 1st lowest of 15 · 3% of median | 19 | 0.5 |
| 2019 | 62 | 4th lowest of 15 · 21% of median | 31 | 1.4 |
| 2020 | 327 | 10th lowest of 15 · 110% of median | 130 | 2.9 |
| 2021 | 75 | 5th lowest of 15 · 25% of median | 47 | 1.1 |
| 2022 | 232 | 6th lowest of 15 · 78% of median | 95 | 2.1 |
| 2023 | 295 | 7th lowest of 15 · 99% of median | 89 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 914 | 15th lowest of 15 · 308% of median | 58 | 14.3 |
| 2025 | 19 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 6% of median | 51 | 0.4 |
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.