The Salt Creek watershed encompasses 152 square miles of highly urbanized land in western Cook and eastern DuPage Counties.  It has a number of tributaries of which the largest are Addison Creek and Spring Brook. The main stem of Salt Creek is approximately 42 linear miles and has a rise of 225 feet.  Salt Creek flows into the Des Plaines River in Lyons, which is tributary to the Illinois River. There are 40 municipalities located within the watershed and 11 publicly owned treatment plants discharge effluent to Salt Creek. Additionally, 6 combined sewer overflow outfalls are present.

Land uses in the Salt Creek watershed are shown in the land use summary table. Measured at the USGS station at Western Springs (station 05531500), annual mean flow for the river is 135 cfs (calculated from data for water years 1946-2004).

• TMDL Report Salt Creek 2004
• View Watershed Map