How to Research by Template
This Quick Start provides guidance to effectively search DWR’s ImagedDocuments (Weblink) by Topical
Template by indicating key information within your search to ensure successful search results. You may
search using one or more criteria fields at a time in order to more quickly locate scanned documents of
particular interest.
Abandonment Lists
Before reviewing historic records, please see the latest Abandonment Lists maintained on the
DWR website. To locate a particular historic abandonment list, the most useful search includes the
Division that the water right was decreed in. The revised abandonment list is the final list and should be
included in the decree that the court issues. Therefore, it can also be helpful to indicate the document
type and four digit year of interest in the appropriate fields (if known). As the abandonment lists are
only published every ten years, if you only indicate the Division, the results list will still be minimal, and
you can scan through these results to find documents of interest to review. This search will show you all
document types and years available.
Consent Maps
To locate a Consent Map, it’s most useful to select the Division the file is located in. If you only
specify the Division, you will get a minimal list of results. If you wish to include more parameters in your
search, then you can choose the Division, along with part of the Consent Map Title. Tip: Enter a title as
a partial name with a (*) on each side. For example, enter *south* in the Consent Map Title to locate
any documents with “south” included in the title. The “Annotated?” Field, if it shows Yes, means that
the electronic document may include comments added after its initial release. An example could be
something like a “Best Copy Available” note that was added after the document was scanned.
Dam Construction Documents
Dam Construction Documents require prior approval to review documents and/or obtain copies.
Review the policy at http://water.state.co.us/DWRIPub/Documents/policy01-05.pdf to learn how to
request access to Dam Construction Documents. These documents will not be available online. Once
your approval has been granted, you may obtain copies at our Denver Office in person. Please bring
with you, your State of Colorado Driver’s License and Business Card. Our Denver Office Address is found
at this link: http://water.state.co.us/DataMaps/RecordsResearch/Pages/default.aspx The Records
Section will assist you with obtaining the files that you have been granted access to. Searching for Dam
Construction Documents requires a Dam Name and Division or Dam ID. Other search options include
Dam Drawing Number and Water District. Available documents typically include Dam Construction
Drawings and Inspection Files. Drawings are typically sold on a CD, while inspection reports may require
customers to copy on the copier. Costs vary depending on the available format of the record.
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Diversion Records
Published Annual Diversion Records should be obtained using the CDSS Structures (Diversion)
search tools. If the period of record is incomplete, historical diversion record images may contain
additional information. Researching Diversion Records can be a two part process depending on the
period of record of interest. For Official Diversion Records from 1975-Present, search under View Data,
then Structures (Diversions) at http://cdss.state.co.us/onlineTools/Pages/StructuresDiversions.aspx.
Often, records previous to 1975 are also found at the link above. If not, a second method to search for
Diversion Records is by specifying a District and Four-Digit Year in Imaged Documents (Weblink). Once
the document is located, the index pages of the book can usually be used to locate the pages of interest.
A District alone may be used to bring up all years available. Document Types include Annual Diversion
Records (1970-1974), Commissioner Reports (1880-1969) and Field Books (1900-1969). Book numbers
were also assigned when there was more than one field book or commissioner report for a district and
year. When annual diversion records exceeded 100 pages in a district for one year, then additional
books were created in 100 page increments.
Division Filing
Division Filing is a compilation of various types of documents that are part of the records of our
Division Office locations. Most Division Offices are still in the initial phase of adding documents to the
imaging system. However, the Greeley Office (Division 1) has already added many documents. Division
Filing includes documents internal to, address to, or sent from the Division of Water Resources. For
Division 1, this is the most up-to-date place to retrieve Augmentation Plan and Substitute Water Supply
Plan accounting. Currently, most historical documents have not been imaged. As this template may
contain records for up to seven division offices, it is important to specify the Division of interest in your
search. Another field you may choose to search on is Document Type, which will help you narrow down
the search to something more specific, such as Correspondence or Pictures. The Date search will allow
you to find documents that were issued on that date. So, this would be the date a letter was written or
a photo taken (in this example). A structure’s WDID (or Water District ID Number) can also be an
effective search measure, which will result in documents related to a specific diversion structure. Other
fields, such as Subject, DWR Send/Recipient, and Outside DWR Send/Recipient are free-form typing
fields, so it’s recommended to search using a wildcard. If you want documents related to Longmont you
can enter *Longmont* in the subject box. This will return all results with Longmont anywhere in the
name of the subject. Legal Description searches must be formatted such as TS-RNG-SEC. For example,
enter 01S-064W-01 to locate documents that are indexed in Township 1S, Range 64W, Section 1.
Township and Range need to have directions specified.
Geophysical Logs
To locate a Geophysical Log, there are several useful search methods you may choose. If a
permit number is known, then the Permitno, (and if applicable Permitsuf, and Permitrpl) can be used in
the search criteria. Otherwise, a productive search would be to fill in the fields that identify the legal
description. The following fields, when completed, will allow you to see if a Geophysical Log exists in a
1-square mile radius area (or within 640 acres, which is equal to a section): “PM” or principle meridian,
“ts” or township, “tdir” or township direction, “rng” or range, “rdir” or range direction, and “sec” or
section. Documents that are scanned are Logs and Correspondence. Well ID and Well Name are less
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recommended searches unless you know the unique number or name that was given by the applicant
for the well. You may also visit Online Ground Water (Other) Data Search Tools for physical
information such as the aquifer(s) the well is completed in – top and bottom elevations, and thickness
of sand as interpreted by DWR personnel.
Hearings
To locate a Groundwater Hearing or State Engineer Hearing, it is best to search on the Hearing’s
Case Number. The format is YY-GW-NN (Two digit year followed by GW for Groundwater Cases, and the
Number of the case with one leading zero if the case number is less than 10). For State Engineer
Hearings, the format is YY-SE-NN. (Two digit year followed by SE for State Engineer Hearings, and the
Number of the case with one leading zero if the case number is less than 10). You can enter your search
similar to this 09-SE-01. Or if you would prefer to see all 2009 Groundwater Cases and State Engineer
Hearings, then enter 09-*. The star is a wildcard; meaning you will get everything that begins with 09-.
You can also narrow your search results if you choose a Doc Type in your search, such as Findings. The
Tape Description search measure is generally not recommended, as it is rarely indexed. This field may
contain Tape Numbers, which correspond to Audio Cassette Tapes from actual hearings made into audio
files. Or, it may give additional indentifying information, such as a specific applicant’s name, when there
were many exhibits in a case. Please note that cases are imaged after they are closed. If information is
needed, while the case is still open, please contact Nicholle Rainey at 303-866-3581 x8201.
Historical Court Actions
To review Historical Court Actions, it is typically recommended to search on a Structure Name
and/or Water District that a structure is located in. Alternatively, you can leave all the search criteria
blank (since this is a very limited group of files) and search. This will give you a list of all the Historical
Court Actions we have imaged. Note: Please do not generally do this type of search without specifying
any search criteria, unless we recommend it, as many of our templates contain tens of thousands of
records. Other search options you may specify include File Number, Case Number (which can
sometimes be a date), Plaintiff, and Defendant.
Hydrography and Streamgaging
To locate information using this template there are a few different ways to search. Go to
http://dwrweblink.state.co.us/dwrweblink/search.aspx . Choose the Hydrography and Streamgaging
template. You can search using the date range (i.e. 6/30/2011-6/30/2012), Document Type – Final
Streamflow Record Report, and/or the SEO Abbrev / Division specific to the structure you’re looking for
(i.e. BIGSPGCO – Big Spring Creek At Medano Ranch Near Mosca, Division 3). Selecting the division will
minimize the results that return from your query. After entering information hit search or enter to view
data.
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Livestock Water Tanks and Erosion Control Dams (LSWTECD)
To find Livestock Water Tanks and Erosion Control Dams search by the Receipt Number. The
Receipt Number can be up to five numbers in length. No leading zeros are required in Receipt Number
searches. You may also specify a Document Type, such as Application, Completion, or Change of
Ownership, or these may be left blank when searching.
Map and Filing Statements
To find Map and Filing Statements for ditches, reservoirs, or wells, it is best to specify the Water
District where the structure is located in your search. If you know the Map and Filing Number, you can
enter that along with the Water District to more quickly find the specific map needed. Filing numbers
may have a suffix, which can be entered in the Suffix Code search criterion. Or, if you know the
Structure Name, then enter that in the Map Title. This field is free-form, so use wildcard searches, such
as *Mountain* to find Map Titles with “mountain” anywhere in the name. Structure ID’s are sparsely
populated in the data, so this is not the best way to search. Only a percentage of the map filings have a
Structure ID indexed. Keep in mind that not all ditches have Map Filings available, but many do. The
majority of these maps are for ditches and reservoirs rather than wells.
Official (Water Rights) Tabulations
Before reviewing these historic documents, please review our latest bi-annual Official Water
Rights Tabulations online. To locate a historic Official Tabulation specify the Division in your search.
You may also choose to identify the Year of interest, which should be four characters in length. It is
generally suggested to leave the Document Type blank in your search, so you can view all results for a
particular Division and Year. There may be an initial and a revised tabulation for the same year.
Alternatively, a revised tabulation may have come out in a later year than the initial tabulation.
Sometimes to see a broader set of results, it can be helpful to only specify the Division of interest in your
search. Then, the results can be sorted by year, so you will see all official tabulations that are available
for a particular Division.
Pre-SB213 Worksheets
To locate Pre-SB213 Worksheets, it is easiest to search by Permit Number (and if applicable:
Permitsuf and Permitrpl). Permitsuf refers to a permit’s suffix designation, such as “F” or “RFP”, or may
be a variety of other suffixes. Permitrpl refers to a permit’s replacement code designation, such as “A”
or “R” if the well has a permit to re-drill. The next recommended search is the legal description. Fill in
appropriate boxes for “ts” or township, “tdir” or township direction, “rng” or range, “rdir” or range
direction, and “sec” or section. You can also search by Case Number using the following format: CW
case(s): yyCWxxxxa or W case(s): Wxxxx or Wxxxx-aaa or CA case(s): CAxxxx or CAxxxxx or CAxxxx-aa.
(Note: this field is often not indexed, so this search is not recommended) See the “Water Court” section
of this document for more information on formatting case numbers. There are several other methods
to search, such as Coordinates, Acre_ft, Sat_thickness, Sp_yield and Radius. However, Permit Number
or Section, Township, Range are the recommended methods of searching in this template for the best
results.
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Publications and Reports
Division Engineer and State Engineer Annual Reports, State Engineer Biennial Reports, can be
found using this template. To locate a Publication or Report file, the best way to search is by using the
Title and Division fields. Type the name of the publication or report in the ‘Title’ field using all caps with
the year, then title and division (i.e 1999 ANNUAL REPORT DIVISION 5). If the title is not available the
search can also be completed by typing in the year, division, and selecting the ‘Document Type’.
Example: 2000, Division 5 and select Division Engineer’s Annual Report. Streamflow and Water Level
Reports coming soon…
State Archive Inventory
State Archive Inventory are listings of the Division of Water Resource’s original documents
stored with the Colorado State Archives. The only search option available in this template is
Description. The archival inventory sheets are grouped by subject within the Description, so searching
on the entire template will return minimal results. We recommend in this template that you leave
Description blank and search. Many documents listed as deposited with State Archives have been
imaged, but some have not been. If you need access to the original documents from storage, please
contact Colorado State Archives for their policy about how to view a specific box.
Straight Line Diagrams
It is recommended to specify a Division and Water District when searching in this template.
Occasionally a Water District is not indexed, however. Another way to search is by only indicating the
Division. Adding a Stream Name to the search may or may not be helpful. In general it’s a good idea to
start with a broad search, such as Division only. Then sort the results by Stream Name to see if there is
an available Straight Line Diagram on a specific stream. Coverage is limited, so all streams will not have
a straight line diagram available. Searching by Year is not recommended, as this field is rarely indexed.
You may also choose to search on Stream Name without a Division or Water District. As an example,
enter a Stream Name formatted as *Walnut* to find something indexed as Walnut Creek, Walnut
Stream or North Walnut Creek anywhere in the state. The asterisks wildcards on both sides of a word
will search for any name containing that word.
Subdivisions
To locate a Subdivision file, it is best to search with the combination of the County and the
Subdivision Name. Type in the Subdivision Name with an asterisk(*) wildcard on each side. For
example, try searching for Weld in the County field along with *haven* in the Subdivision Name field to
get all Subdivisions in Weld County that contain Haven in the Subdivision Name. Other search options
for this template include Filing, Water District, Document Type and Subdivision Number. The
Document Type may be useful to specify in your search, if for example, you are only interested in
viewing an Approval Letter or a Map of the Subdivision.
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Substitute Water Supply Plans
To locate a document in the Substitute Water Supply Plans (SWSP’s) Template we recommend
specifying the Division and the Four Digit Year in the search. Document Types include Approvals and
Denials of the State Engineer’s Office (SEO), the applicant’s Request for the SWSP, and Objections to the
SWSP request. Historical documents are not included in the template, but new incoming and outgoing
documents are added daily. Also, new SWSP documents related to Gravel Pits are included in this
template. Many documents related to Gravel Pit SWSP’s will be indexed with the DRMS Number, which
is a number assigned by the Division of Mining, Reclamation and Safety for a specific gravel pit during a
given year. To locate a Gravel Pit SWSP you may search the DRMS Field using the format of Myyyy###.
The format signifies the 4-digit year and up to 3-digit number for a specific SWSP. The field is not case
sensitive, and no dashes or spaces should be entered. If trying to search by a Plan Name, then use the
asterisk (*) wildcard on both sides of a singular word search. For example, if you are interested in the
SWSP for Bijou Irrigation Company, then enter *Irrigation* in the Plan Name search box. This will
return results with the word Irrigation listed anywhere within the SWSP Name. Plan ID is a number that
is assigned and only used by the SEO for tracking purposes, and therefore is not recommended
searching by.
Water Court
Water Court documents should be searched for by Case Number along with the appropriate
Division, since the same Case Number can exist in seven different Divisions. It’s important to format
your case number correctly using the following logic:
CW case(s):
yyCWxxxxa
filling missing x's with 0 (e.g 02CW0002) if there is an extension then value (e.g. 88CW0071A)
W case(s):
Wxxxx or Wxxxx-aaa
filling missing x's with 0 (e.g W0002)
if there is an extension then use a dash and the value (e.g. W0234-76 or W2345-76A)
CA case(s):
CAxxxx or CAxxxxx or CAxxxx-aa
if the number is less than 10000 then CAxxxx
filling missing x's with 0 (e.g CA0002)
there are some greater than 10000 so they would be CA11195
if there is an extension then use a dash and the value (e.g. CA0234-76 or CA3053-32)
Lastly, you may specify a Document Type if desired, such as Decree or Referee’s Ruling, if you would like
to view a particular document in the case. Note: If a Water Court document is not available in our
imaged documents, please contact the appropriate Water Court to obtain a copy.
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Water Court Resumes
For current Water Court Documents, visit the Water Court Homepage and select a Division to
review Monthly Water Court Resumes and Archives. Each of the seven Water Courts publishes a
Resume once per month. We try to keep our records up-to-date with current Resumes, as well as,
provide the historical Water Court Resumes. Water Court Resumes may be searched for in several
ways. First, be sure to select a Division in your search, so you are only searching for documents from
one Water Court rather than seven courts. You may also include a 4-digit Year in your search as well as
a Month. (Choosing from the drop-down menu) Specifying only a Division and Year will generally return
twelve results, one for each month; Adding the Month to your search, too, should return the specific
Resume of interest.
Well Permit Information
Please use our Well Permit Search Tool to locate the most updated information. When
searching the Well Permit Information template, some key information should be entered. Typically,
entering the Permitno (Permit Number) is the best option. It is recommended to leave the Permitsuf
(Permit Suffix) and Permitrpl (Permit Replacement) fields blank, so you may see the most results. Be
aware that the Permit Number can exist in different areas of the state. For example, Permit Number
54000 without a Permitsuf is in Clear Creek County, while Permit Number 54000 with Permitsuf “F” is in
La Plata County. Another way to research a Permit is by its Receipt Number, which is a unique identifier
to each Permit issued. If you know the Receipt Number, this can be a good alternative search option, as
it will produce an exact match. The Document Type dropdown can be helpful, if you wish to narrow
down a large results list. However, keep in mind that Original File has been used for identification of
many documents, so if you search for a document name of Permit to Construct a Well or a Well
Construction & Test, then you may not find it this way. Often, documents are indexed in one document
called Original File rather than broken into separate files and labeled individually. Lastly, be sure to
review all documents that indicate a “YES” under the Annotated? Field, in the resulting list. These
documents contain electronic changes to the record that can amend well uses, show permit extensions,
or change the status of a well.
More Quick Tips for using Imaged Documents (Weblink) Program Online
TEXT SEARCH OPTION
In addition to Search by Template options described above, a TEXT SEARCH OPTION is also available.
 Text Search allows a search on the text of an imaged document. Choose from the Customize
Search to display the Text Search. Enter a single word that is fairly unique. Combine the Text
Search with a Field Search to look for information in a specific template.
 When using Text Search, documents that are returned will show “Hits”. The hits represent
where a word was found in the document. Hits will tell you what page to look at to see where
that word appears in the text in order to more quickly find something within a file with many
pages.
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CHANGING NUMBER OF RESULTS DISPLAYED PER PAGE
 Sometimes results from a search appear on many pages. The default setting is to show 20
results per page. If you wish to change it, then use the drop-down on the upper right and
change 20 results per page to Show All. The results screen will refresh automatically.
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