Hydrohistorian
← My Water · Print / save as PDF
VEGA DITCH
Structure dossier · WDID 7200928 · 1 · PLATEAU CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:45 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 1889-05-09 — 105th 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: LITTLE FINN IRRIGATING D (1889-05-01). Immediately behind: GUNDERSON CARTER DITCH (1889-05-27).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18749.14374 | 1889-05-09 | 1905-10-14 | 4.95 | 0.0 | C | IRR | 117 |
| 34419.224 | 1911-05-01 | 1959-07-21 | 2.5 | 0.0 | C | IRR |
Legal record & documents
10 decreed actions on record across
6 court cases:
88CW0079, 85CW0272, 85CW0253, CA5812, 84CW0218, CA1222.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
88CW0079 | 1 | 1959-07-21 | S |
85CW0272 | 1 | 1959-07-21 | S |
85CW0253 | 1 | 1959-07-21 | S |
CA5812 | 3 | 1941-07-25 | S |
84CW0218 | 3 | 1941-07-25 | S |
CA1222 | 1 | 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 223 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 163 AF — 73% 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 223 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 31 | 5.5 |
| 2010 | 229 | 9th lowest of 15 · 103% of median | 50 | 3.0 |
| 2011 | 353 | 11th lowest of 15 · 158% of median | 64 | 4.0 |
| 2012 | 402 | 14th lowest of 15 · 180% of median | 75 | 6.4 |
| 2013 | 170 | 6th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 27 | 4.9 |
| 2014 | 361 | 12th lowest of 15 · 162% of median | 32 | 7.4 |
| 2015 | 172 | 7th lowest of 15 · 77% of median | 61 | 2.5 |
| 2016 | 388 | 13th lowest of 15 · 174% of median | 84 | 4.0 |
| 2017 | 562 | 15th lowest of 15 · 252% of median | 76 | 7.5 |
| 2018 | 20 | 1st lowest of 15 · 9% of median | 10 | 1.2 |
| 2019 | 297 | 10th lowest of 15 · 133% of median | 89 | 4.0 |
| 2020 | 75 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 34% of median | 16 | 3.0 |
| 2021 | 73 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 33% of median | 18 | 3.0 |
| 2023 | 89 | 4th lowest of 15 · 40% of median | 31 | 1.5 |
| 2024 | 163 | 5th lowest of 15 · 73% of median | 93 | 1.8 |
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 (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 | 2979 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | sparse | 26% 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.