Lower Des Plaines River is a 22.8-square-mile subwatershed of the Des Plaines River Watershed that drains portions of south central/south-eastern Lake County and northern Cook County. This subwatershed includes several small streams that drain directly into the Des Plaines River and the Des Plaines River from Route 176 in Libertyville south to its confluence with Buffalo Creek/Wheeling Drainage Ditch in Wheeling.