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DAWSON RESERVOIR
Structure dossier · WDID 7203910 · 3 · BIG CREEK · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 22:58 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 1911-11-19 — 346th 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: T E KITSON RESERVOIR (1911-11-17). Immediately behind: TWIN BASIN RESERVOIR (1912-08-15).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30895.22602 | 1911-11-19 | 1941-07-25 | 144.11 | 0.0 | A | IRR | |
| 34419.32702 | 1939-07-15 | 1959-07-21 | 75.89 | 0.0 | A | IRR | |
| 41443.0 | 1963-06-20 | 1972-12-31 | 0.3 | 0.0 | A | FIRSTK |
Legal record & documents
3 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
W0467, CA8303, CA5812.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
W0467 | 1 | 1972-12-31 | O |
CA8303 | 1 | 1959-07-21 | S |
CA5812 | 1 | 1941-07-25 | 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 188 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 188 AF — 100% of that, and 8th 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 | 48 | 1st lowest of 15 · 26% of median | 62 | 61 | 0.9 |
| 2011 | 143 | 4th lowest of 15 · 76% of median | 230 | 365 | 5.0 |
| 2012 | 162 | 5th lowest of 15 · 86% of median | 63 | 366 | 3.5 |
| 2013 | 76 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 40% of median | 132 | 324 | 3.0 |
| 2014 | 131 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 70% of median | 112 | 209 | 4.1 |
| 2015 | 179 | 6th lowest of 15 · 95% of median | 152 | 365 | 3.7 |
| 2016 | 191 | 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 192 | 366 | 3.5 |
| 2017 | 238 | 13th lowest of 15 · 127% of median | 153 | 365 | 5.0 |
| 2018 | 208 | 11th lowest of 15 · 111% of median | 162 | 365 | 5.0 |
| 2019 | 212 | 12th lowest of 15 · 113% of median | 160 | 365 | 6.7 |
| 2020 | 183 | 7th lowest of 15 · 97% of median | 160 | 366 | 5.1 |
| 2021 | 191 | 9th lowest of 15 · 102% of median | 161 | 365 | 4.3 |
| 2022 | 245 | 14th lowest of 15 · 130% of median | 213 | 365 | 8.1 |
| 2023 | 249 | 15th lowest of 15 · 132% of median | 149 | 365 | 8.5 |
| 2024 | 188 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 176 | 304 | 6.1 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is rising over its last 15 recorded years (+9 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.002).
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 | 3 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 4916 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.