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MCEWEN DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 7100567 · 1 · FISH CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:23 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 1894-06-01 — 47th most senior of the 279 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: KING NO 1 DITCH (1891-12-31). Immediately behind: KIPPER DITCH NO 3 (1894-06-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16223.0 | 1894-06-01 | 1937-03-08 | 4.1 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 37-21 |
| 22431.0 | 1911-06-01 | 1937-03-08 | 4.1 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 37-32 |
Legal record & documents
4 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
CA1528, 96CW0114.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA1528 | 2 | 1937-03-08 | S |
96CW0114 | 2 | 1937-03-08 | 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 1,050 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 0 AF — 0% of that, and 1st 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,050 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | — | 73 | 8.0 |
| 2012 | 1,529 | 12th lowest of 15 · 146% of median | — | 108 | 9.9 |
| 2013 | 1,561 | 13th lowest of 15 · 149% of median | — | 122 | 8.4 |
| 2014 | 2,368 | 15th lowest of 15 · 226% of median | — | 159 | 9.4 |
| 2015 | 1,856 | 14th lowest of 15 · 177% of median | — | 113 | 9.9 |
| 2016 | 1,423 | 10th lowest of 15 · 136% of median | 72 | 111 | 7.5 |
| 2017 | 1,461 | 11th lowest of 15 · 139% of median | 26 | 98 | 9.0 |
| 2018 | 2 | 5th lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 18 | 0.2 |
| 2019 | 1,139 | 9th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | 21 | 95 | 9.5 |
| 2020 | 201 | 6th lowest of 15 · 19% of median | 3 | 80 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 12 | 0.0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 12 | 0.0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 12 | 0.0 |
| 2024 | 686 | 7th lowest of 15 · 65% of median | 175 | 110 | 4.9 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 12 | 0.0 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is falling over its last 15 recorded years (-130 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.004).
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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 4030 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 25% of the irrigation seasons in 1950-2025 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.