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MORRISON RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 6903532 · 3 · MORRISON CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:07 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (f6d7fdc) — 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 1960-08-24 — 26th most senior of the 55 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: MORRISON DITCH (1960-08-24). Immediately behind: DUNHAM RESERVOIR (1966-07-14).
Decreed rights (3)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40413.0 | 1960-08-24 | 1968-06-11 | 42.0 | 0.0 | A | IRRSTK | |
| 47116.40413 | 1960-08-24 | 1979-12-31 | 27.0 | 0.0 | A | IRRSTK | |
| 47116.40415 | 1960-08-26 | 1979-12-31 | 47.33 | 0.0 | A | IRRSTK |
Legal record & documents
7 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
79CW0085, CA2220, 37/92/301.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
79CW0085 | 2 | 1979-12-31 | S |
CA2220 | 3 | 1968-06-11 | S |
37/92/301 | 2 | 1968-06-11 | 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 14 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 10 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2009, came in at 21 AF — 200% of that, and 8th lowest of the 14 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 47 | 9th lowest of 14 · 448% of median | — | 19 | 1.3 |
| 1974 | 93 | 12th lowest of 14 · 886% of median | — | 51 | 1.0 |
| 1975 | 68 | 10th lowest of 14 · 648% of median | — | 48 | 1.0 |
| 1976 | 73 | 11th lowest of 14 · 695% of median | — | 41 | 1.5 |
| 1977 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 2 | 0.0 |
| 1978 | 93 | 12th lowest of 14 · 886% of median | — | 61 | 1.5 |
| 1979 | 97 | 14th lowest of 14 · 924% of median | — | 59 | 1.0 |
| 1980 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | 63 | 10 | 0.0 |
| 1981 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 14 | 0.0 |
| 1982 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 4 | 0.0 |
| 1983 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 8 | 0.0 |
| 1984 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 2 | 0.0 |
| 2008 | 0 | 1st lowest of 14 · 0% of median | — | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2009 | 21 | 8th lowest of 14 · 200% of median | — | 22 | 0.5 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use shows no clear trend over its last 14 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 | 3 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 342 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 4% of the irrigation seasons in 1969-2009 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.