Watersheds of Indiana

TheWatersheds of Indianaconsist of six distinctIndiana watershedregions that drain into five major bodies of water.

In the above map, The largest area, shaded in green, drains into theWabash River.Of the other watersheds, the blue areas drain intoLake Michigan,the yellow area drains into theIllinois River,the pink area drains into theMaumee River,the gray area drains into theOhio River.

Illinois River watershed

With theKankakee River,theIllinois Riverwatershed stretches from theIllinoisborder in northwest Indiana and up intoMichigan's Berrien County, adjacent toSt. Joseph County.

This drainage area include most of the state known as theNorthwest Indiana,including the city ofLa Portebut excluding the area north of theValparaiso Morainewhich drains intoLake Michigan.

Lake Michigan watersheds

There are two watersheds in the state that drain into Lake Michigan. In the northwest part of the state, it includes theGrand Calumet Riverarea inLakeandPortercounties, and includes the cities ofGaryandHammond.This watershed is defined by theValparaiso Moraine.

The second, and larger Lake Michigan watershed is theSt. Joseph Riverwatershed, which drains the north central and northeastern part of the state. It includes the cities ofSouth Bend,Elkhart,MishawakaandGoshen.

Maumee River watershed

The smallest watershed in the state is theMaumee Riverwatershed in the northeast part of the state on the border withOhio.It includes most of the city ofFort Wayneas well as the cities ofNew Haven,Woodburn,andAuburn.The Maumee eventually empties intoLake ErieatToledo, Ohio.

Ohio River watershed

TheOhio Riverwatershed includes the extreme southern part of the state as well as the extreme southwestern Indiana counties. This drainage area includes the cities ofEvansville,RichmondandNew Albanyas well as the Indiana suburbs ofCincinnati, Ohio.

Wabash River watershed

By far the largest watershed in the state, theWabash Riverdrainage area contains the several large cities, includingIndianapolisand the extreme western part ofFort Wayne.Other cities included in the area areBloomington,Muncie,Lafayette,AndersonandTerre Haute.This watershed also includes most of Indiana's primefarmland. The area within the Lower Wabash Valley is also known as "Watermelon Country", largely due to its sandy soil on whichwatermelonsandcantaloupesthrive. Cities within this area includeVincennes,Sullivan.Many towns of this area have "Watermelon Festivals" such asOwensville,PoseyvilleandVincennes(Knox County) usually at harvest time (first weeks of August).

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