{"id":6290,"date":"2025-07-15T13:44:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/detroit-river-story-lab\/?p=6290"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:38:50","slug":"detroits-ghost-streams-planet-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/detroit-river-story-lab\/detroits-ghost-streams-planet-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit\u2019s ghost streams: Maps of hidden waterways combat city\u2019s flooding problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Map of historic and existing rivers and streams from Detroit Water and Sewage, CDM and the Urban Streams Restoration by Lars Gr\u00e4bner published in March 2015, “Mapping Detroit: Land, Community, and Shaping a City.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Publication<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Planet Detroit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Wilson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Date<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

July 15, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Detroit\u2019s buried creeks, hidden by urban development, pose flooding risks to neighborhoods.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since moving to Detroit in 2020, Joanne Coutts has explored subterranean Detroit on her bike, using century-old U.S. Geological Survey maps to trace the paths of creeks that now\u00a0run deep underground<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coutts embarked on this project, she says, to \u201cnavigate the city from the perspective of water rather than of concrete.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While cars and freeways dominate Detroit\u2019s transportation system today, this has not always been the case. Like many large cities, Detroit was built alongside waterways that were used as vital means of transportation by indigenous peoples for centuries before its founding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban development and industrialization led to Detroit\u2019s wetlands being filled in and creeks, no longer needed for crop irrigation, being buried and turned into sewers. Today, over 80% of the waterways visible on city maps from 1905 have disappeared from view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Read the Full Article at Planet Detroit<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rachel Wilson, Planet Detroit, July 15, 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