What’s Your Water Address? by: Joanne Coutts

The What’s Your Water Address? project asks us to understand the place that we call home from the perspective of its relationship to water rather than concrete. The project was conceived by Great Lakes Creatives (a group of Michigan based water protectors from across the state) in response to an invitation from Jannan Cornstalk of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians for water protectors at the annual Water is Life Festival to introduce themselves including their water address. 

The basis of your water address is the watershed. All of us in Detroit live in the Lake Erie watershed. This is like our state in the road atlas. Then there are four major river watersheds that Detroiter’s call home – the Rouge River, Clinton River, Lake St. Clair and Detroit River. The river watersheds can be seen as the water address equivalent of the city on a street map. 

Detroit’s buried creeks and their tributaries, canals and drainage ditches are the neighborhoods and streets of our water addresses. To find them I looked at historical maps at the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Main Library, University of Michigan’s Clement’s Library, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the British Library in London. 

To find your water address on the map, use the freeways and main streets outlined to find the general location of your house. Then…

1. Find the 3 letter code for the creek, drain or ditch closest to your house. Look up the code on the table below to find the name of the creek, drain or ditch. This is your water street. Eg: MES = Messmore Drain.
2. Identify which creek system you live in. This is your water neighborhood. Eg: Baby Creek.
3. Determine which river watershed your neighborhood is in. This is your water city. Eg: ROUGE RIVER WATERSHED.

My water address is: Messmore Drain, Baby Creek, Rouge River Watershed, Lake Erie Watershed

I am delighted to be sharing more about the What’s Your Water Address? project at a couple of events around World Water Day, which is Sunday, March 22, 2026. Please join me on:

Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m. to collaborate with Ride with Purpose on a bike ride along buried waterways, in search of “blue lines”. These blue lines were spray-painted on sidewalks near residences and businesses who were slated to have their water shut off by the city. We’ll tally blue lines, block-by-block, to create an artistic rendering of shutoffs in juxtaposition to buried waterways, seeking to visually represent the absurdity of limiting water access — that Detroiters could be cut off from the water they need to survive while water once abundantly flowed near their homes. The lines we’ll encounter were known by many as “blue lines of shame” — identifiers that stigmatized residents who struggled to afford high water bills. We seek to reverse that narrative by showing that water access affects entire communities, not just individuals and families. Having your water shut off is no moral failing, it is a consequence of a system that values money over people. We will meet at the O’Shea Playground, 15810 Capitol St, Detroit, MI 48227. The ride will be approximately 10 miles round trip.

Monday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. for a presentation and conversation about Detroit’s Buried Waterways at Southfield Library, 26300 Evergreen Road, Southfield, MI 48076, Meeting Room. 

KEY TO CREEKS, DRAINS AND DITCHES (in alphabetical order)

ACK	Ackley Drain	HAM	Hamtramck Drain	POC	Pochert Drain
ADD	Addison Drain	HOL	Holbrook Drain	PPH	Perry and Phillips Drains
BAB	Baby Creek	HOR	Horger Drain	RCA	Richard and Capler Drain
BAG	Bagg Drain	HOS	Holmes Drain	RIV	Rivard Drain
BDY	Brady Drain	HUN	Hunt Drain	ROU	Roulo Drain
BLA	Blanck Drain	KAN	Kanada Drain	ROW	Rowley Drain
BOE	Boehmer Drain	KEA	Keasley Drain	RTU	Richard and Tucker Drain
BRI	Brinker Drain	KIE	Kiefer Drain	SNY	Snyder Drain
BRR	Burrell Drain	KKP	Krouse, Kuhn and Plank Drains	STA	State Drain
BUR	Burgess Drain	LAP	Lapham Drain	STB	Stebbins Drain
CAM	Campbell Creek	LAR	Larkins Drain	STO	Stoddard Drain
CAR	Carpenter Drain	LAW	Lawrence Drain	STP	Stephans Drain
ST	Chilvers Tile and Chevillot Drain	MAR	Martz Drain	STV	Stevens Drain
CKI	Carr Killian Drain	MCD	McDonald Ditch	THA	Thayer Drain
COL	Colby Drain	MCQ	McQuade Drain	VIZ	Vizard Drain
CON	Connor Creek	MES	Messmore Drain	W&N	Wetmore and Norris Drain
CRP	Caniff Road or Palister Drain	MGN	Morgan Drain	WAL	Walker Drain
DAV	David Tile Drain	MIC	Michaels Drain	WHA	Whalen Drains
FOX	Fox Creek	MIE	Miesel Drain	WIL	Wilmartin Drain
FUL	Fulton Drain	MIN	Minnock Drain	Y&R	Young and Rhein Drain
GAR	Garrison Drain	MMM	Mouhot Monnier (Meyers) Drain	YEL	Yelnick Drain
GRI	Griffin Drain	MOR	Moran Drain
HAL	Hammel Drain	MUL	Mullen Drain