The Watab River, also known as Watab Creek, is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 in Stearns County in central Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is named from the Ojibwe

Ojibwa

The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

 language

Ojibwe language

Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...

 wadab-ziibi (river with spruce-roots) due to the exposed spruce roots once found along its banks. It rises in Watab Lake and flows northeast where it merges with County Ditch Number 12 before flowing east and into the Mississippi River at Sartell

Sartell, Minnesota

Sartell is a city in Benton and Stearns counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,876 at the 2010 census, making it St. Cloud's most populous suburb and the largest city in the central Minnesota region after St...

.

The North Fork Watab River rises in Pillager Lake, flows northeasterly to Stump Lake, then southeasterly near Collegeville, merging with South Fork Watab River near St. Joseph

St. Joseph, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,681 people, 1,120 households, and 712 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,517.4 people per square mile . There were 1,147 housing units at an average density of 616.8 per square mile...

, then to Rossier Lake and finally flowing into Watab Lake.

The South Fork Watab River flows southeast from Big Watab Lake to Little Watab Lake, and through a pond before flowing northeast and into North Fork Watab River.