7.12 - What is a Water Rights Analysis?

Consistent with Colorado Water Law, a water rights analysis tracks diversions and associated consumptive use based on water rights seniority. A water rights analysis considers the administration date of ditch diversions (i.e. water right priority) in determining whether water used to meet consumptive use demands is senior or junior to priorities provided by the user. This option is most often used when determining the consumptive use of only a portion of the water rights under a diversion structure.

A water rights analysis requires a direct diversion rights file (*.ddr), that provides water rights information for each structure in the analysis. User-supplied priority(s) to categorize ‘senior’ versus ‘junior’ consumptive use can be provided as a single priority in the StateCU control file (*.ccu) or as a daily (*.add) or monthly (*.adm) time-series of priorities that represent the calling rights on the river for the time step specified. This option is only available under a Structure Scenario and can be selected from Menu Control Option window if structure water rights (*.ddr) information is provided. See Section 3.4 for more information.