Tag:waterway=stream
 waterway = stream
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| Description |
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A naturally-forming waterway that is too narrow to be classed as a river. 
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| Rendering in OSM Carto |
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| Group: waterways |
| Used on these elements |
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| Useful combination |
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| See also |
Status: de facto
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| Tools for this tag |
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Use waterway=stream for a naturally-forming waterway that is too narrow to be classed as waterway=river (the commonly accepted rule for OpenStreetMap is that a stream can be jumped across by an active, able-bodied person). A stream need not be permanently filled with water. In case of varying size or intermittent waterways the distinction from larger rivers based on the above criterion should be made with respect to the high water level.
For artificial (man made) small watercourse used for drainage consider using waterway=ditch or for carrying superfluous water waterway=drain. For a wider man-made watercourse created for navigation use waterway=canal. If the feature you are mapping never contains water or if its primary use is to prevent access to the other side, you should use barrier=ditch. For tidal creeks and channels - natural tidal waterways within the coastal marine environment with bi-directional flow of salty water which depends on the tides - see waterway=tidal_channel.
How to map
Draw a way 
in the flow direction of the water and add the waterway=stream.
The waterway should always be connected to the next waterway. If it is a lake, a waterway=* should also lead through it to the next waterway.
Additional tags:
- name=* to specify the name of the stream, for example 'Little Creek'.
- width=* to indicate the width of the stream. This is an approximate average width of the stream throughout most of length of that bit of stream.
- intermittent=yes to indicate that a stream does not have a permanent flow.
- tunnel=culvert and layer=-1 if the stream flows under a road, railroad, trail, or similar feature.
- A tunnel should also be mapped with the name, as the renderer can then hold the watercourse together.
- seasonal=yes for sections that do not carry water seasonally
Water area 
Streams that are wider should be drawn with natural=water + water=stream as an area (in addition to the main stream waterway=stream) so that they are rendered cleanly.
Using relations 
When the stream is longer, it's common to include its ways in a waterway relation. It may help to keep data synchronized. Use relation:waterway, where all the common values (like names in different languages, Wikipedia/Wikidata entries, known length=*, destination=* etc.) can be stored.
See also
- waterways - generic information about waterways
- waterway=river - larger natural waterway, too wide to be jumped across
- waterway=tidal_channel - natural tidal waterway within the coastal marine environment with bi-directional flow
- natural=gully - natural cutting formed by a small stream
- water=stream - used to map the water area of a stream (should contain a waterway=stream)
- OSM Inspector