detroit river ownership

[ML]

Under the riparian principle, all landowners whose property is adjoining to a body of water have the right to make reasonable use of it. If there is not enough water to satisfy all users, allotments are generally fixed in proportion to frontage on the water source. These rights cannot be sold or transferred other than with the adjoining land, and water cannot be transferred out of the watershed.

Riparian rights include such things as the right to access for swimming, boating and fishing; the right to wharf out to a point of navigability; the right to erect structures such as docks, piers, and boat lifts; the right to use the water for domestic purposes; the right to accretions caused by water level fluctuations. Riparian rights also depend upon "reasonable use" as it relates to other riparian owners to ensure that the rights of one riparian owner are weighed fairly and equitably with the rights of adjacent riparian owners.

[Randy S]

I think it may have to do with how the properties were originally surveyed and platted. Some recorded deeds may actually include submerged bottomlands in the property descriptions, while others may not. I have seen property descriptions that show "to the waters edge" and others that show "to the high water mark".

[bobc]

Who owns the bottomland of the Detroit River? Some lots on Grosse Ile show property lines extending to the harbor line far from shore who owns this submerged land?