Nearly 258,000 acres (or 74%) of land in Mecklenburg County drains through the sub-basin watersheds (like Little Sugar Creek) to the Catawba River and the three lakes. Besides providing countless recreational opportunities, the Catawba River and the three lakes are sources of water for millions of people in the region.
Catawba River Nearly 220 miles long, the Catawba flows east-to-west through the heart of Foothills Conservancy's land trust region. Turning southward, the river flows past Charlotte and into South Carolina where it joins the Wateree River before draining into the Atlantic Ocean.
The River is 225 miles and flows through 26 counties in North and South Carolina. The 5,610 square mile basin can be divided into 5 sub-watersheds; Northern Catawba, South Fork, Central Catawba, Southern Catawba, and Wateree.
There are 3,005 miles of named and classified streams in the Catawba River basin in North Carolina and over 60,000 acres of impoundments. The basin is subdivided into nine subbasins represented in Figure A-5 by six digit subbasin codes (03-08-30 through 03-08-38). Duke Power.
More than 2 million people now make their home here. Charlotte, the largest municipality in the state, contains almost half of the basin's population— more than 730,000 people. The basin is also home to a large variety of animal residents, many of them unique and rare.