The river winds through Muncie, Anderson, Noblesville, and Indianapolis before being joined by the east fork in the triad of Daviess, Knox, and Pike counties.

The East Fork or Aankwaahsakwa Siipiiwi in the native Miami-Illinois language[4] starts in Columbus at the confluence of the Driftwood and Flatrock rivers.

Below the junction of the East Fork, the White River flows another 50 miles (80 km) between Gibson, Knox, and Pike counties before draining into the Wabash River at the Indiana–Illinois border next to Mount Carmel, Illinois, in the vicinity of where the Grand Rapids Dam and Grand Rapids Hotel used to exist.

The pesticides most frequently detected near the mouth of the White River during 1991–1995 were the herbicides alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, and metolachlor.

[8] The kill was traced back to Guide Corp, an automotive parts maker in Anderson, which had discharged 10,000 US gallons (38,000 L) of the chemical HMP 2000 into the river.

[9] Guide Corp eventually reached a settlement whereby the company would pay a total of $14.2 million in fines, penalties, legal expenses, and river restoration.

Ten years after the fish kill, officials with the DNR stated that the White River was in better condition than before the environmental disaster.