The Lech is a right tributary of the Danube. The 256 km long river has its source in Vorarlberg and flows through Tyrol and southern Bavaria, where it flows into the Danube. Shortly before the Austrian-German border, it takes up the Vils, forms the artificial Lechfall before Füssen and crosses the artificially dammed Forgensee and parts of Swabia and Upper Bavaria on its way. The largest cities on the Lech are Landsberg and Augsburg, where it receives its largest tributary, the Wertach. At Marxheim the river flows into the Danube.
The Lech is the most important river in Augsburg and is represented at the Augustus Fountain as a river god with a wreath of spruce cones, wolf skin and raftsman paddles adorned with reeds, crabs and fish.
The Augustusbrunnen is one of the three magnificent fountains in Augsburg, along with the Merkurbrunnen and Herkulesbrunnen. It is located on the town hall square and represents the city's founder, the Roman emperor Augustus.