Whitewater River ( California ) - wikipedia Whitewater River ( California ) Whitewater River Country United States State California Tributaries - left Mission Creek, Garnet Wash, Thousand Palm Canyon Wash - right South Fork Whitewater River, San Gorgonio River, Chino Wash, Palm Canyon Wash, Cathedral Canyon Cities Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert, Indio, Coachella, Mecca Source Confluence of North and Middle Forks - location Near San Gorgonio Mountain, San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County - elevation 4,787 ft ( 1,459 m ) - coordinates 34 ° 03 ′ 48 '' N 116 ° 44 ′ 50 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 34.06333 ° N 116.74722 ° W ﻿ / 34.06333 ; - 116.74722 Mouth Salton Sea - location South of Mecca, Riverside County - elevation − 233 ft ( − 71 m ) - coordinates 33 ° 30 ′ 30 '' N 116 ° 03 ′ 26 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 33.50833 ° N 116.05722 ° W ﻿ / 33.50833 ; - 116.05722 Coordinates : 33 ° 30 ′ 30 '' N 116 ° 03 ′ 26 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 33.50833 ° N 116.05722 ° W ﻿ / 33.50833 ; - 116.05722 Length 53.9 mi ( 87 km ) Basin 1,500 sq mi ( 3,885 km ) Discharge for Indio - average 3.53 cu ft / s ( 0 m / s ) - max 11,400 cu ft / s ( 323 m / s ) - min 0 cu ft / s ( 0 m / s ) The course of the Whitewater River highlighted on a map of the Salton Sea drainage basin The Whitewater River is a small permanent stream in western Riverside County, California, with a small upstream section in southwestern San Bernardino County. Its headwaters are in the San Bernardino Mountains and mouth -- terminus in the Colorado Desert. The Whitewater River is in the endorheic Salton Sea drainage basin. The community of Whitewater is named after the river. In 2010 Huell Howser Productions, in association with KCET / Los Angeles, featured the river and nearby community in California 's Gold. Contents 1 Geography 1.1 San Bernardino Mountains 1.2 Coachella Valley 2 References 3 External links Geography San Bernardino Mountains The Whitewater River has three significant tributaries : the North, Middle and South Forks, all within the Sand to Snow National Monument. The North Fork begins in the subalpine zone at about 10,000 ' ( 3,000 m. ) on San Gorgonio Mountain and descends steeply southeast to the Middle Fork, which flows east through a wide arroyo. The South Fork flows northeast through a narrower wooded canyon, joining the Middle Fork lower down. The upper watershed is in the San Gorgonio Wilderness and San Bernardino National Forest, then it reaches land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Below the confluences the arroyo is at least 1 / 2 mile ( 1 km. ) wide, paved with accumulations of boulders, gravel and sand brought down by floods and brushy except in stream channels cleared by floodwaters. Due to floods and shifting channels there is almost no riparian forest development, except very locally along unnamed minor tributaries with relatively stable channels. The Pacific Crest Trail ( PCT ) enters the arroyo from the north and follows it downstream to a trailhead at the Whitewater Preserve, owned by The Wildlands Conservancy. A few fish have escaped upstream, establishing a small population of wild but non-native Rainbow Trout. These fish are confined to places where there is shade or tributaries with cooler water. Apparently they are not sufficiently adapted to elevated summer temperatures to colonize the rest of the stream. Coachella Valley Below the PCT trailhead the enclosing hills fall away so the arroyo exits from the San Bernardino Mountains near Morongo Valley into the western Coachella Valley. The San Gorgonio River which rises further west on the south side of San Gorgonio Mountain then joins it. Garnet Wash, Mission Creek, Chino Canyon Wash, Palm Canyon Wash, Cathedral Canyon and Thousand Palm Canyon Wash also join, but the water mainly penetrates through the porous desert floor, providing groundwater recharging of the Coachella Valley aquifer. Before approaching Palm Springs, the Whitewater River is fed imported water from the Colorado River Aqueduct, managed by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. During rare floods, surface water may reach the endorheic basin of the Salton Sea, below sea level. References Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Mission Creek Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : South Fork Whitewater River Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Garnet Wash Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Thousand Palm Canyon Wash Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Palm Canyon Wash Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Cathedral Canyon Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : North Fork Whitewater River Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System : Middle Fork Whitewater River ^ Jump up to : `` Whitewater River ''. Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 1981 - 01 - 19. Retrieved 2011 - 07 - 07. Jump up ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high - resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 16, 2011 Jump up ^ `` USGS Gage # 10259300 on the Whitewater River near Indio '' ( PDF ). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1966 - present. Retrieved 2011 - 07 - 07. Check date values in : date = ( help ) Jump up ^ Howser, Huell ; Levy, Tom ; Kenna, Jim ( September 25, 2001 ). `` Whitewater -- Palm Springs Week ( 003 ) ''. California 's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archives. OCLC 47732513. Jump up ^ Wildlands Conservancy Whitewater Preserve Archived October 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ http://www.pe.com/localnews/banning/stories/PE_News_Local_D_whitewater20.167f567.html External links Bureau of Land Management -- Whitewater resources The Trust for Public Land : Whitewater Howser, Huell ( September 3, 2010 ). `` Whitewater Preserve -- California 's Golden Parks ( 167 ) ''. California 's Golden Parks. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whitewater_River_(California)&oldid=804730450 '' Categories : Rivers of Riverside County, California Rivers of San Bernardino County, California Coachella Valley San Bernardino Mountains Sand to Snow National Monument Tributaries of the Salton Sea Rivers of Southern California Hidden categories : CS1 errors : dates Webarchive template wayback links All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from October 2011 Coordinates on Wikidata Geobox usage tracking for river type Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 10 October 2017, at 20 : 02. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the water in whitewater ca come from
Answer: San Bernardino Mountains