The Salt River is fed by numerous perennial streams that start as springs and seeps along the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains.

Cibecue Creek, a 36-mile (58 km) perennial stream, joins the river in the canyon, flowing from the north through the Fort Apache Reservation.

Between Carrizo and Cibecue creeks, the Salt River becomes the boundary between the Tonto National Forest on the south and the Fort Apache Reservation on the north.

Less than 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) from the national forest boundary, the Granite Reef Diversion Dam diverts all remaining water in the Salt River into the Arizona Canal and Southern Canal, which deliver drinking and irrigation water to much of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

The Salt River joins the Gila on the southwestern edge of Phoenix, approximately 15 miles (24 km) from the center of the city.

[11] Despite the dry river bed, or arroyo, dangerous flash floods occasionally occur, especially during monsoon storms in late July and early August.

[citation needed] However, except after rainfall, the Salt is dry or a small stream below Granite Reef Dam.

[citation needed] The river was used for irrigation by the pre-Columbian Hohokam culture, by later Native Americans, and by early Euro-American settlers in the 19th century.

It currently provides a major source of irrigation and drinking water for Phoenix and surrounding communities through the Salt River Project.

The river's water is distributed over more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of irrigation canals, used primarily for the growing of cotton, alfalfa, fruit, and vegetables.

[13] There are turbidity problems along many stream reaches in Salt River's watershed; these are related to rangeland management, recreation, mining, sand and gravel operations, and other sources.

[2] High levels of fecal coliform bacteria and ammonia have been reported for Carrizo Creek and the White River.

The Akimel O'odham, also known as the Pima people, lived along the Salt River and dug canals, using irrigation to provide water to their villages and farms in the arid environment.

The United States government recognized the territory of the Pima people by way of executive order signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes.