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LOST TIME DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 7200756 · 1 · PLATEAU CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 01:22 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (a1c9146) — 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 1889-08-16 — 108th most senior of the 2166 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: GALBRAITH DITCH (1889-06-15). Immediately behind: PENSION DITCH (1889-10-31).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18749.14473 | 1889-08-16 | 1905-10-14 | 1.26 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 120 |
| 18749.1508 | 1891-04-15 | 1905-10-14 | 0.54 | 0.0 | C | IRR | |
| 46751.46265 | 1976-09-01 | 1978-12-31 | 1.5 | 0.0 | C | IRRIND |
Legal record & documents
6 decreed actions on record across
4 court cases:
81CW0089, W3715, 81CW0088, CA1222.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
81CW0089 | 2 | 1981-12-31 | S |
W3715 | 1 | 1978-12-31 | S |
81CW0088 | 1 | 1978-12-31 | S |
CA1222 | 2 | 1905-10-14 | 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 724 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 443 AF — 61% of that, and 5th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 607 | 7th lowest of 15 · 84% of median | 140 | 3.0 |
| 2005 | 430 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 59% of median | 133 | 2.0 |
| 2006 | 438 | 4th lowest of 15 · 60% of median | 146 | 3.0 |
| 2007 | 548 | 6th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 138 | 3.0 |
| 2008 | 949 | 13th lowest of 15 · 131% of median | 153 | 3.5 |
| 2009 | 925 | 12th lowest of 15 · 128% of median | 153 | 3.5 |
| 2010 | 724 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 157 | 3.5 |
| 2011 | 781 | 10th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | 153 | 3.0 |
| 2012 | 968 | 14th lowest of 15 · 134% of median | 156 | 3.8 |
| 2015 | 1,002 | 15th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 155 | 3.8 |
| 2017 | 923 | 11th lowest of 15 · 128% of median | 144 | 3.3 |
| 2018 | 762 | 9th lowest of 15 · 105% of median | 168 | 3.8 |
| 2019 | 428 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 59% of median | 129 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 142 | 1st lowest of 15 · 20% of median | 44 | 1.8 |
| 2024 | 443 | 5th lowest of 15 · 61% of median | 109 | 2.5 |
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 B (8/10 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 | 4999 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 43% of the irrigation seasons in 1970-2024 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.