Watersheds of Illinois is a list of basins or

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

s into which the State of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

can be divided based on the place to which water flows. At the simplest level, in pre-settlement times, Illinois had two watersheds: the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, with almost the entire State draining to the Mississippi, except for a small area within a few miles of the Lake. This has been complicated by modifications around Lake Michigan, making the Lake itself to some extent a part of the Mississippi watershed. Although it would now be correct to describe Illinois as part of the Mississippi watershed, such classification would not be particularly useful for locating bodies of water within the State. The following lists are based on the method of subdividing the State that is followed by the Illinois State Water Survey. Any body of water in Illinois can be located within this system. The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers contain many small, direct tributaries, such as Marys River, which are not considered separate "watersheds" under this system. These small, direct tributaries to the main rivers are considered to be part of the "Mississippi watershed" or "Ohio watershed". A list of the small, direct tributaries that have articles in Wikipedia is also shown. This list can be used in conjunction with the alphabetical

List of rivers of Illinois This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Illinois: By drainage basin Gulf of Mexico *Mississippi River ** Ohio River *** Lusk Creek *** Saline River ***Wabash River ****Little Wabash River ***** Skillet Fork ***** Elm River ***** Fox River * ...

. Each of the articles about rivers in Illinois should locate that river within the list of watersheds.

Mississippi River watershed

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

** Cache River ** Saline River **

Wabash River The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...

***

Little Wabash River :''Note: The Little River of northeastern Indiana is also sometimes known as the Little Wabash River.'' The Little Wabash River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Ma ...

*** Embarras River ***

Vermilion River (Wabash River tributary) The Vermilion River is a tributary of the Wabash River in the states of Illinois and Indiana, United States. There are two "Vermilion Rivers" in Illinois. The Wabash tributary flows south, while the other Vermilion River flows north to the Illi ...

Big Muddy River The Big Muddy River is a river in southern Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River just south of Grand Tower. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, forming Rend Lake. The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length. Hydrography T ...

* Kaskaskia River *

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

Macoupin Creek Macoupin Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River, which it joins near the village of Hardin, Illinois. The word ''macoup ...

** La Moine River ** Sangamon River **

Spoon River The Spoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in west-central Illinois in the United States. The river drains largely ...

Mackinaw River The Mackinaw River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its watershed covers approximately , ...

** Kickapoo Creek **

Vermilion River (Illinois River tributary) The Vermilion River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in the state of Illinois, United States. The river flows north, in c ...

** Fox River (Illinois River tributary) **

Des Plaines River The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American Her ...

Kankakee River The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest wetlands in N ...

*** Iroquois River * Rock River (Mississippi River) **

Green River (Illinois) The Green River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Rock River in northwestern Illinois in the United States. Via the Rock, it is part ...

Kishwaukee River The Kishwaukee River, locally known as simply The Kish, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Illinois.. United States Board on G ...

** Pecatonica River The minor direct tributaries of the Mississippi include the following, which are parts of the "Mississippi watershed": * Marys River *

Wood River Wood River may refer to: Rivers In Canada * Wood River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake * Wood River (Saskatchewan), a river in south-west Saskatchewan In Ireland * Wood River (County Clare), Kilru ...

* Edwards River * Henderson Creek *

Hennepin Canal The Hennepin Canal State Trail, also just called the Hennepin Canal, is an abandoned waterway in northwest Illinois, between the Mississippi River at Rock Island and the Illinois River near Hennepin. The entire canal is listed on the National ...

Plum River The Plum River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in northwestern Illinois in the United States. It rises i ...

* Apple River * Galena River *

Sinsinawa River The Sinsinawa River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Mississippi River. It rises in Grant County, Wisconsin, with headwaters just outside ...

Little Menominee River The Little Menominee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Upper Mississippi River, which it joins in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. The ...

* Menominee River

Lake Michigan watershed

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

Calumet River The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the ...

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...

* Note: the Chicago River flowed into Lake Michigan until its reversal in 1900. It now is a minor outlet of the Great Lakes Basin and its flow is regulated by the U.S.-Canadian

Great Lakes Commission The Great Lakes Commission is a United States interstate agency established in 1955 through the Great Lakes Basin Compact, in order to "promote the orderly, integrated and comprehensive development, use and conservation of the water resources of ...

References

External links

Major Watersheds of Illinois, Illinois State Water Survey, PDF formatPrairie Rivers Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watersheds Of Illinois Geography of Illinois

fr:Liste des fleuves de l'Illinois nl:Lijst van rivieren in Illinois

Mississippi River watershed

Lake Michigan watershed

See also

References

External links