The Yadkin–Pee Dee River Basin (alternatively watershed or

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

) is a large river basin in the eastern United States, covering around 7,221 square miles, making it the second largest in the state of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Its headwaters rise near

Blowing Rock, North Carolina Blowing Rock is a town in Watauga County, North Carolina, Watauga and Caldwell County, North Carolina, Caldwell counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 1,376 at the 2020 census. The Caldwell County portion of Blowing Roc ...

, and the basin drains to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Winyah Bay Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that is the confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River, and the Sampit River in Georgetown County, in eastern South Carolina. Its name comes from the Winyah people, who inhabited th ...

, east of

Georgetown, South Carolina Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, South Carolina, Georgetown County, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census ...

. The majority of the basin is within the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

geographical area of the United States, and South Carolina, and parts of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

, in North Carolina. It is part of the larger South Atlantic–Gulf Water Resource Region.

Geography

The watershed starts in the northwestern corner of North Carolina near Blowing Rock (protruding only slightly into Carroll and

Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

counties of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

) and extends south by southeast, crossing the south central border into South Carolina, with slightly more than half of the watershed in North Carolina. It is the second largest in the state. The basin covers an area approximately 433 miles long and includes 5,862 miles of

streams A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...

and

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, 22,988 acres of lakes and has an area of about 7,221 square miles. Over 22,988 acres of the basin is covered by lakes. The basin is home to 93 separate

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, in 21

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

with an estimated population of 1,463,535 (2000 U.S. Census). The basin covers a number of geographical areas, starting at the Appalachian Mountains and the

North Carolina Foothills Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...

continuing through the central Piedmont area, into the Sandhills region and Coastal Plains before finally exiting into the

Features

The watershed is home to a number of unique geological features, such as Pilot Mountain, a 2,421 ft metamorphic

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

monadnock An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

, which was the original inspiration for "Mount Pilot" in the 1960s television show ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American sitcom television series that was aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The series ...

''. This is near

Mount Airy, North Carolina Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 10,676. As of 2020, the city is the most populous municipality in Surry County. Mount Airy is located within t ...

, the basis for the city of

Mayberry Mayberry is a fictional community that was the setting for two popular American television sitcoms, ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1960–1968) and '' Mayberry R.F.D.'' (1968–1971); Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reunion television f ...

Additionally, the region is home to a number of

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

s and other natural wonders including

Blowing Rock Blowing Rock may refer to: * The town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina ** The rocky outcropping Blowing Rock (land feature), near the town of the same name * Blowing Rock, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Caribbean island belonging to Anguil ...

, parts of the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and National Scenic Byway, All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for through 29 counties in Virginia and ...

Tanglewood Park Tanglewood Park is a recreation center and park in Clemmons, Forsyth County, North Carolina, USA. It is located on the Yadkin River between Clemmons and Bermuda Run. It is home to the annual "Tanglewood Festival of Lights," a display of light ...

, the 45,000 acre

Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge The Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge (NWR) located in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from a headquarters located in McBee, South Carol ...

and the 50,000 acre

Uwharrie National Forest Uwharrie National Forest ( ) Talk Like A Tarheel
from the North C ...

. The Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge, an 8,443-acre wildlife preserve for waterfowl, lies completely within the confines of the watershed. Over half of the total land area is forested, including the Uwharrie National Forest. There are 38 aquatic rare species within the basin, including the

Shortnose sturgeon The shortnose sturgeon (''Huso brevirostrum'') is a small and endangered species of North American sturgeon. As with most sturgeons, it is an anadromous bottom-feeder, which migrates upstream to spawn but spends most of its life feeding in rive ...

and Carolina heelsplitter, which are listed as federally endangered.

Bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a Species complex, species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies ...

can be found in the locality of

Badin Lake Badin Lake is one of a series of lakes created by the damming of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of the United States. The Badin Lake Dam was built in 1917 to support local aluminum smelting plant, Alcoa, and the associate ...

. The bald eagle sightings were so common in the area that Alcoa's subsidiary, Yadkin, Inc., developed a Bald Eagle Management Plan. The eagles migrate through, but do not generally nest in the area. In North Carolina, 42 percent of the state's dairy cattle are raised in the basin (half of that number in the South Yadkin Subbasin alone). Also 36 percent of the poultry population (approximately 66 million birds) in the state. Hog farming has been a contentious issue in many parts of North Carolina, but the river basin only supports 2 percent of North Carolina's swine population. Crop lands decreased by 46 percent between 1982 and 1992, while urban development increased by 38 percent.

Hydrology

There are 22,988

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s of lakes and 5,863

miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English f ...

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s in the basin. Five major

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s exist within the watershed, all in North Carolina, including: * W. Kerr Scott Reservoir *

High Rock Lake High Rock Lake is a reservoir located on the Yadkin River in central North Carolina in the counties of Davidson County, North Carolina, Davidson and Rowan County, North Carolina, Rowan. Built in 1926-27 by the Tallassee Power Company, a wholly o ...

Tuckertown Reservoir The Tuckertown Reservoir is the reservoir formed by the Tuckertown Dam at the North end of Badin Lake and the High Rock Dam at the bottom of High Rock Lake in the Uwharrie Lakes Region in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The reservoir is lo ...

Falls Reservoir Falls Reservoir is part of the Yadkin River Project in North Carolina and managed by Alcoa as part of their hydroelectric business. It is the last of four reservoirs along a stretch of the Yadkin River The Yadkin River is one of the lon ...

All the major lakes except the W. Kerr Scott Reservoir generate

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

for the " Yadkin Project" which is under the control of the

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

producing company

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

, and licensed to operate by the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...

(FERC). The combined Yadkin Project has a total generating capacity of almost 215

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

of electricity. The

Narrows Dam Narrows Dam is a dam located 6 miles north of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, that impounds the water of the Little Missouri River (Arkansas) to create Lake Greeson. Narrows Dam was authorized as a flood control and hydroelectric power project by the Floo ...

and powerhouse development at

is the only hydroelectric project in North Carolina that is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. A number of large rivers flow within the Yadkin–Pee Dee watershed, totaling 5,946 linear river miles. In South Carolina, these include the

Lynches River Lynches River, named for Thomas Lynch, Jr., signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence, rises in North Carolina near Waxhaw, North Carolina, at about elevation, flowing only a short distance to the So ...

Great Pee Dee River The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river in the Carolinas of the United States. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where its upper course, above the mouth of the Uwharrie River, is known a ...

, Little Pee Dee River, Black River and

Waccamaw River The Waccamaw River is a river, approximately 140 miles (225 km) long, in southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 1,110 square miles (2886 km2) in the coastal pla ...

, while in North Carolina, the major rivers include the

Yadkin River The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in the US state of North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway, Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river a ...

South Yadkin River The South Yadkin River is a long river that flows through Alexander, Davie, Iredell, Rowan, and Wilkes counties of North Carolina. The mouth is located north of High Rock Lake, where the South Yadkin River meets the Yadkin River. Major citi ...

, Abbotts Creek, Roaring River,

Uwharrie River The Uwharrie River () is a long river, in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina in the United States. It is a tributary of the Pee Dee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. Course The Uwharrie River rises in northwestern Randolp ...

and Rocky River.

Water quality

There are a number of water quality issues within the basins. In an average water basin, between 5 and 58 tons per square mile per year (t/mi²/yr) of fine-grained sediment are removed from the surrounding land in

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...

but the Yadkin–Pee Dee River Basin sees 300 t/mi²/yr in runoff due to rapid population growth and agricultural practices that leave bare soil exposed to erosion. thirty-nine percent of rivers within the North Carolina section of the basin fail to meet the state water quality standards and are listed as "impaired".

References

Citations Bibliography *

External links

Yadkin–Pee Dee River Basin AssociationYadkin–Pee Dee River Basin Water Supply Planning
– N. C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources
River flow for watershed's rivers
United States Geological Survey (

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...