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ELMER DITCH NO 2
Structure dossier · WDID 7700530 · 1 · LITTLE NAVAJO RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-28 01:48 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 1882-12-31 — 15th most senior of the 187 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: ELMER DITCH NO 1 (1882-12-31). Immediately behind: MIDLAND DITCH (1884-06-30).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12053.0 | 1882-12-31 | 1897-07-01 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | #10 |
| 14397.0 | 1889-06-01 | 1897-07-01 | 1.0 | 0.0 | C | IRR | #46 |
| 41016.36341 | 1949-07-01 | 1968-12-19 | 3.0 | 0.0 | C | IRRDOMSTK | 68-110 |
Legal record & documents
3 decreed actions on record across
3 court cases:
CA0308-D, W1682, CA0073.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA0308-D | 1 | 1968-12-19 | S |
W1682 | 1 | 1897-07-01 | O |
CA0073 | 1 | 1897-07-01 | O |
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 64 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2025, came in at 101 AF — 158% of that, and 11th 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 | 246 | 15th lowest of 15 · 384% of median | 60 | 6.2 |
| 2010 | 28 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 44% of median | 29 | 0.7 |
| 2011 | 46 | 5th lowest of 15 · 72% of median | 62 | 1.5 |
| 2012 | 28 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 44% of median | 45 | 0.7 |
| 2013 | 57 | 7th lowest of 15 · 89% of median | 69 | 0.6 |
| 2014 | 37 | 4th lowest of 15 · 58% of median | 56 | 0.6 |
| 2015 | 50 | 6th lowest of 15 · 78% of median | 40 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 74 | 9th lowest of 15 · 116% of median | 70 | 1.2 |
| 2017 | 158 | 14th lowest of 15 · 247% of median | 132 | 2.8 |
| 2018 | 100 | 10th lowest of 15 · 156% of median | 116 | 1.8 |
| 2019 | 132 | 12th lowest of 15 · 206% of median | 81 | 1.8 |
| 2020 | 135 | 13th lowest of 15 · 211% of median | 55 | 1.4 |
| 2023 | 64 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 81 | 1.0 |
| 2024 | 0 | 1st lowest of 15 · 0% of median | 1 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 101 | 11th lowest of 15 · 158% of median | 119 | 1.0 |
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 | 7541 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 57% of the irrigation seasons in 1964-2025 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.