diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch/streamwatcher.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch/streamwatcher.go
index 99f6770b919..4960dbf1cea 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch/streamwatcher.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch/streamwatcher.go
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ type StreamWatcher struct {
 	source   Decoder
 	reporter Reporter
 	result   chan Event
+	done     chan struct{}
 	stopped  bool
 }
 
@@ -67,6 +68,11 @@ func NewStreamWatcher(d Decoder, r Reporter) *StreamWatcher {
 		// goroutine/channel, but impossible for them to remove it,
 		// so nonbuffered is better.
 		result: make(chan Event),
+		// If the watcher is externally stopped there is no receiver anymore
+		// and the send operations on the result channel, especially the
+		// error reporting might block forever.
+		// Therefore a dedicated stop channel is used to resolve this blocking.
+		done: make(chan struct{}),
 	}
 	go sw.receive()
 	return sw
@@ -84,6 +90,7 @@ func (sw *StreamWatcher) Stop() {
 	defer sw.Unlock()
 	if !sw.stopped {
 		sw.stopped = true
+		close(sw.done)
 		sw.source.Close()
 	}
 }
@@ -116,17 +123,25 @@ func (sw *StreamWatcher) receive() {
 				if net.IsProbableEOF(err) || net.IsTimeout(err) {
 					klog.V(5).Infof("Unable to decode an event from the watch stream: %v", err)
 				} else {
-					sw.result <- Event{
+					select {
+					case <-sw.done:
+						return
+					case sw.result <- Event{
 						Type:   Error,
 						Object: sw.reporter.AsObject(fmt.Errorf("unable to decode an event from the watch stream: %v", err)),
+					}:
 					}
 				}
 			}
 			return
 		}
-		sw.result <- Event{
+		select {
+		case <-sw.done:
+			return
+		case sw.result <- Event{
 			Type:   action,
 			Object: obj,
+		}:
 		}
 	}
 }