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BIG CREEK RESERVOIR NO 1
Structure dossier · WDID 7203904 · 3 · BIG CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 00:03 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 1893-08-01 — 120th 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: SPRING DITCH (COON CR) (1893-07-15). Immediately behind: BIG CREEK RESERVOIR NO 3 (1893-09-01).
Decreed rights (1)
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18749.15919 | 1893-08-01 | 1905-10-14 | 788.0 | 0.0 | A | IRR |
Legal record & documents
2 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
CA1222, 01CW0337.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA1222 | 1 | 1905-10-14 | S |
01CW0337 | 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 172 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 160 AF — 93% of that, and 7th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 61 | 0.0 |
| 2011 | 560 | 14th lowest of 15 · 326% of median | 401 | 365 | 16.4 |
| 2012 | 321 | 12th lowest of 15 · 187% of median | 140 | 366 | 4.1 |
| 2013 | 180 | 10th lowest of 15 · 105% of median | 0 | 304 | 1.1 |
| 2014 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 0 | 61 | 0.0 |
| 2015 | 79 | 5th lowest of 15 · 46% of median | 0 | 365 | 0.4 |
| 2016 | 63 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 37% of median | 0 | 366 | 0.4 |
| 2017 | 73 | 4th lowest of 15 · 42% of median | 0 | 365 | 0.4 |
| 2018 | 177 | 9th lowest of 15 · 103% of median | 88 | 365 | 1.3 |
| 2019 | 309 | 11th lowest of 15 · 180% of median | 176 | 365 | 26.6 |
| 2020 | 172 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 470 | 366 | 1.2 |
| 2021 | 592 | 15th lowest of 15 · 344% of median | 321 | 365 | 6.8 |
| 2022 | 401 | 13th lowest of 15 · 233% of median | 118 | 365 | 13.7 |
| 2023 | 97 | 6th lowest of 15 · 56% of median | 0 | 365 | 0.7 |
| 2024 | 160 | 7th lowest of 15 · 93% of median | 374 | 304 | 2.3 |
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 A (9/10 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 | 1 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 4748 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 100% of the irrigation seasons in 2010-2024 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.