Chino Creek rises from underground in a storm water channel flowing southwards from a subdivision in southern Pomona, eastern Los Angeles County.

Chino Creek then runs south to its confluence with the Santa Ana River just north of the dam about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east-northeast of Corona.

[3] The creek runs along the southwest side of the gently sloping alluvial Cucamonga Plain comprising sediments deposited by erosion from the San Gabriel Mountains.

It essentially follows the southern outline of the combined alluvial fans of San Antonio, Mill/Cucamonga, Deer, and other tributary streams flowing from the range across the Pomona Valley.

The broad, flat watershed comprises much of the southeastern slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains and alluvial plains that lie to the south of the range.

[7] Almost 55 percent of the basin is heavy urban development, and major cities include Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Upland, Pomona and Chino.

~20% of the watershed is wild land, mostly in the mountainous north within the Angeles National Forest, and the remaining quarter in the south is used for agriculture, much for the raising of livestock.

A 50-square-mile (130 km2) area of farmland in the southern part of the basin was found to have up to 400,000 cows in a study by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

In the late 1800s, the first American settlers arrived in the area and established small towns along the creek's confluence with the Santa Ana River, including Rincon (later changed to Prado).

[11] Dams were constructed on Chino Creek and miles of irrigation laterals laid, but due to the stream's low flows and tendency for flash floods the system as a whole was not extremely efficient.