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MCARTHUR DITCH & RETURN
Structure dossier · WDID 8000759 · DITCH · MCARTHUR GULCH · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:49 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (0576005) — 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.
Current administration
● Fully called out — call at LAST CHANCE DITCH 2 (SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, priority 1863-12-30).
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 1868-05-01 — 267th most senior of the 21881 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: 8000758 (1868-05-01). Immediately behind: 8000921 (1868-05-01).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6696.0 | 1868-05-01 | 1913-05-22 | 1.4 | 0.0 | C | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISFIRDOMSTKAUG | |
| 6696.0 | 1868-05-01 | 1913-05-22 | 447.0 | 0.0 | A | IRRMUNCOMINDRECFISFIRDOMSTKAUG |
Legal record & documents
3 decreed actions on record across
2 court cases:
CA1678, 17CW3205.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
CA1678 | 1 | 1913-05-22 | O |
17CW3205 | 2 | 1913-05-22 | 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 190 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2024, came in at 322 AF — 170% of that, and 12th 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 495 | 15th lowest of 15 · 260% of median | — | 178 | 1.4 |
| 2009 | 455 | 14th lowest of 15 · 240% of median | — | 186 | 1.4 |
| 2010 | 272 | 10th lowest of 15 · 143% of median | — | 214 | 0.8 |
| 2011 | 124 | 5th lowest of 15 · 65% of median | — | 180 | 0.5 |
| 2012 | 120 | 4th lowest of 15 · 63% of median | — | 156 | 0.8 |
| 2013 | 281 | 11th lowest of 15 · 148% of median | — | 136 | 1.4 |
| 2014 | 345 | 13th lowest of 15 · 182% of median | — | 138 | 1.4 |
| 2015 | 187 | 7th lowest of 15 · 98% of median | — | 68 | 1.4 |
| 2016 | 133 | 6th lowest of 15 · 70% of median | — | 68 | 1.0 |
| 2017 | 190 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | — | 97 | 1.0 |
| 2018 | 48 | 1st lowest of 15 · 25% of median | — | 64 | 0.5 |
| 2019 | 236 | 9th lowest of 15 · 124% of median | — | 121 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 95 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 50% of median | — | 49 | 1.0 |
| 2023 | 115 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 60% of median | 115 | 140 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 322 | 12th lowest of 15 · 170% of median | 322 | 207 | 2.6 |
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 | 2 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 6374 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | patchy | 54% of the irrigation seasons in 1969-2024 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.