All streams flow toward the center of the basin in a radial pattern.
Stream beds are dry except for local drainage during the winter rains or the summer flash floods.
In effect, the valley is a closed water system. Being a desert, there is little precipitation available. What does enter the valley either evaporates or is trapped in the aquifers. There is no outlet by which any surface drainage may reach the sea. The Whitewater River, rising in Whitewater Canyon of the San Bernardino Mountains, is the principal stream channel of the valley.